First Hole Fished

First Ice

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

Slender spoon

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

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

The Second Week of Deer Camp

View From the Stand Late Saturday Afternoon

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

A Great Addition to the Tackle Box

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

Winter is Here!

Steak ala Kienitz

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

First Snow of the Season

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

Showing off at TCF Stadium

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

Deer Hunting, Ready or Not

Ben's newest addition to his Trophy Room!

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

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

Out For Trout

A couple limits of nice Rainbow Trout

So last Thursday was my day to spend with Bill Lundeen of Lundeen's Tackle Castle on the corner of highways 169 and 27 in Onamia, MN.  I seldom get a chance to fish with Bill and usually when we go it's not only a great time but more often than not, very successful. It's been a tough year for Bill with the current situation at Mille Lacs however he is a survivor and while others are leveraged to the max, Bill has persevered through this difficult time.  I have a friend that states when a guy dies he probably has less than 5 guys he can count on as his true friends and Bill is on my list.  So when he asked if I was interested in a trout fishing outing to one of the many old pit mines near the Crosby/Akin area it was an invitation hard to refuse.  Setting the date of Thursday, October 23rd, I opened my calendar and was ready to meet him at the crack of dawn.  Unfortunately an important customer asked at the last minute if he could stop by at 9:00 the same morning I had little choice to oblige.  Now what our planned start time of 7:00 in the morning was now 11:30, oh well Bill is an understanding guy.  After a successful 2 hour meeting I headed north and pulled into the bait shop in record time.  Bill was ready to go as we loaded his canoe carrier and canoe onto may truck we headed north.  The day was absolutely gorgeous and if the fish weren't biting it still was going to be a great day.  Arriving at the lake we unloaded our gear and carried the canoe down to the landing about 50 yards down the hill. These old mine pits are deep, clear, and usually are stock with trout as they do well in the deep water during the summer.  With the water temperature around 50 the trout would be found in the shallower water as we headed to the 20 foot range and started trolling with small nightcrawler rigs.  Its kind of interesting to fish out of a canoe, it takes a while to get your sea legs and the confidence to move around and feel comfortable maneuvering around.  Our strategy was to troll the 20 foot water, looking for fish that might be suspended.  I ended up putting a 2 hook crawler rig on 4 pound test

Reflections of a day trout fishing

that Bill tied up for me which had a gold hammered spinner then weighted with a 1/2 ounce sinker. We probably went 50 yards when a tap tap was felt, I dropped the rod tip back still feeling the fish, gave a jerk yet still missed the fish. It was another 20 minutes before I felt another fish and letting it take the bait a little longer the hook set yielded a very nice rainbow trout in the 14 inch range.  Although it was a smaller lake and we could circle it in a reasonable time we decided to get back where the fish were biting. That last fish I caught ended up breaking the line (it was only 4# test)in the net so I put on another rig Bill had tied up but I don't know, not much confidence in going from Gold hammered to Red and White spinner color.  After another 20 minutes I decided to tie my own rig using 6# test, the hooks from the broken rig and the gold spinner blade I was back in business.  Almost immediately I got another rainbow trout, then another and another.  Struggling to put a fish in the boat Bill finally landed one but in the end our limit of 10 trout was predicated on my ability to out fish him 3:1.  I was just one of those days.  Most of these trout are stocked and represent a stock and take fishery, these fish had been in the lake for over a year as they were all 13 - 15 inches and had a nice pink/orange flesh.  It was a super day watching the trout leap out of the water, catching our limits, and the most important aspect........spending the day with Bill, the most important.  Heading back to the bait shop and home we cleaned the fish, had some pizza, a few beers before heading home.  It truly was one of the best days fishing this year.  One of the more striking pictures was the one of the reflections of the trees off the water as we pulled into shore.  With no wind to disrupt the water, the scene was fabulous.

Loaded with fish

Sunday was slated for getting the Ranger out to run some SeaFoam through my system for its long winter sleep.  I asked my neighbor Tom Olson if he wanted to go and he affirmed so we headed out. The lake was Indian Lake north of Annandale, MN, not particularly deep but it has 3 distinct areas in the lake that drop to 25 feet.  I have an old crappie fishing book and they claim that in the fall crappies will congregate in these holes, stack up, and should be easy to fish.  Well the first small hole proved both windy and impossible to fish so we moved south on the calm side of the lake.  Maybe thinking the fish were shallower we worked the 7 - 10 foot depth around the south shore but nothing was biting. With a southeast wind and a 25 foot trough perfectly positioned for a drift we dropped the trolling motor and using a slip bobber and jig, floated right down the middle.  With the weed line at about 12 feet, anything we marked should be fish. Just at the point where the bottom started rising was about 4 marks close to the bottom and one of our bobbers went down.  After putting the trolling motor in anchor mode we hovered over the spot and the longer we stayed the more fish congregated below us.  We caught a few crappies with the first one being awfully small with a couple of keepers in the mix, I was surprised by the amount of fish showing up on the depth finder screen.  The fish were biting very light and maybe it was just our setup that used standard light jigs verses maybe a plain hook in the dorsal fin presentation.  We ended up with 5 and I'm sure that given time we could have sorted through a limit of fish but it was time to go.  Forgetting to take a picture of the screen showing all the fish I went online and found one that exactly duplicates what we were seeing, it was pretty incredible.  Either way the day accomplished my 2 main objectives, the first was to get the SeaFoam mixed into the gas and into the motor and second, to prove the schooling crappie theory.  It would have been nice to catch more but at least I know it is true!

It time to set up my deer stand although it's more like setting up my deer blind.  With my bad luck this year all I need to do is fall out of an eighteen foot high tree stand.  My friend Jack has secured a place to hunt this year as we really don't feel like trudging the swamp again for the wet summer has surely filled it up.  There's still work to be done winterizing the boat as the oil needs changing, the lower unit is do to be changed, and it has to be tucked away in the garage for it's long winter's sleep. Slowly the ice fishing stuff is coming out and I'm looking forward to drilling a few holes soon.

Back on the River

20" Smallie on a 6 inch sucker minnow

My good friend Pete has been doing really well on the Mississippi River, including some really nice walleyes.  He fishes the Monticello area and knows that river like the back of his hand and his report on Saturday was no different, 20 fish, 15 smallies and 5 walleyes.  Figuring out where the walleyes are on the stretch of the river behind the house has proven difficult at best.  Although there has been 4 walleyes caught in my river boat this year, nothing has been of any significance compared to the stories I have heard.  Some of those stories were heard on Sunday morning as I stopped by my friend Rick Shermer, returning his tractor with a 6 foot rototiller attached to the back. BTW, it a phenomenal machine which gave me the time to go fishing but that's another story.  Rick's friend John was picking his apples as I parked the tractor and walked up to them.  My neighbor Lory had offered to pick me up and was there to take in the conversation about fishing the river in Dayton.  John sounded like he had fished the area and was familiar with all the "walleye holes" from the bridge across Hwy 101 to behind the house and with time running away from us we decided to try this stretch one more time.  It's pretty easy as we simply hook the boat to the ATV, open a few gates and we are on the river in less than 10 minutes.  Planning on fishing the Mississippi on Sunday I had stopped at the hardware store to buy some smaller sucker minnows in that 4 - 6 inch range.  Arriving at home my aerator on my Engel Bait Cooler didn't work so it was off to Cabela's to get a new air pump.  They had a Marine Metals Hush Bubbler Air pump and I am pretty impressed as it is significantly quieter than the one that came with the Engel.  With the sucker minnows alive and ready to go we hit the river.  With the water clarity at over 4 feet and it's temperature in the low 50's we concentrated on a couple of deep eddies that usually hold fish. Looking for those elusive walleyes, it seems as though they should be congregating in these holes about now.  Lory decided to fish with a jig and plastic while I rigged up a simple slip sinker and a 18 inch leader with a plain hook and a sucker minnow.  We worked the first hole pretty good but didn't

Lory's 18 incher

have single hit.  Next stop was the next eddy behind Cloquet Island, it's 10 - 12 feet deep and "should" be loaded with fish.  Within a few minutes of dropping my sucker to the bottom of the current break I noticed the line moving in the opposite direction it had been going.  Taking up the slack it was obvious a fish had my minnow but with a circle hook one has to simply reel the line and yanked the bait out of it's mouth.  Verifying the sucker minnow was still good I put it right back in and as it hit the bottom it started moving away.  This time I gave it a minute to take the bait and when I reeled the hook drove home.  This fish was a dandy and once Lory got it in the net we measured the smallmouth at 20 inches.   Within a few minutes Lory had a nice fish on but we never saw it.  His determination to land a fish with plastic paid off with a nice 18 inch smallie.  Our next stop was were we caught a walleye in the main current near the old Steven's farm.  A couple of drifts produced nothing so we headed up river to the spot John has given us.  I knew where he was talking about and once we arrived it wasn't easy to fish his spot with a boat, in fact it was all but impossible with the amount of water flowing.  Nest time I see John we are going to have that discussion!

Check out the red eyes!

Our next stop was checking out what was upriver from where the Crow empties into the Mississippi. After navigating the rapids below this point we found a very nice eddy that looked promising yet after 20 minutes we didn't even have a hit.  Deciding to try the area just below the 101 Bridge again, another great looking spot but not one fish.  I suspect that maybe we simply needed to spend more time but with the day running out we headed to the bridge to fish the pillars.  We were greeted by a Cajun Bass boat with 2 guys casting the area with plastic.  I sensed they had been there before as we watched them orchestrate a number of precise casts into the pillars.  Not wanting to horn in too bad we waited for them to move off then dropped our lines.  Within a minute a nice fish hit my sucker minnow and the fight was on and soon a nice 18 inch smallie was in the net.  In the meantime the guys in the Cajun noticed the fish and gave us a nice compliment as they had been only getting smaller fish.  Big fish like big minnows, that's all I could say.  Lory did get a couple smaller smallies before we headed back down river to fish the Cloquet Island area before dark.   It's nice to have the GPS trails to help you back yet one never knows if your choice of routes is the ideal one as we still hit a number of rocks on the way downstream.  Luckily the Rock Hopper really does a great job of keeping the propeller intact and we didn't miss a beat.  Arriving back where I caught the first fish another 18.5 inch fish hit my minnow and we landed that.  Lory decided to try the sucker minnows and immediately had a nice bite but unlike plastic, it's good to give the fish some time which is hard to do if you are used to setting the hook right away.  Those 6 inch sucker minnows take time to get turned in the fishes mouth and patience is certainly needed.   The last spot was the first one we tried and although it's been a good producer it never did anything for us this trip.  We ended up with 8 smallies with 6 of them in the 18 - 20 inch range.  The walleyes continue to elude us but I'm not giving up as they have to be somewhere, I've heard stories you know!

I am heading to see my friend Bill Lundeen on Thursday to try a little trout fishing.  It's been a while since I have fished with Bill for trout so I'm pretty excited and hopefully we'll be successful.  I had helped my friend Mark Taylor pull his big boat out of Lake Minnetonka and besides the usual reward of E & J, he brought some smoked salmon from Costco.  I have to admit it was pretty good, enough to buy it myself.  The Salem Ice Cabin is about ready for ice fishing as I have finished up the last of the improvements, now we are just waiting for the lakes to freeze over.  The Packers won convincingly last Sunday, the fish are biting, Indian Summer continues, I'm not sure there's much to complain about other than the speed in which time flies these days.

Indian Summer

The Maples are on Fire

Indian Summer is defined as the period of nice weather that occurs after we've experienced a killing frost.  Here in Minnesota or Wisconsin our first killing frost is usually at the end of September and Indian Summer happens in the subsequent weeks in October.  Well, it is definitely Indian Summer in Dayton as the weather is just beautiful, 65 during the day and frost on grass overnight.  Our above normal precipitation this June has set up the trees for a spectacular show of color.  The leaves are just peaking in the metro area as this time of the year is one of my favorites.  Unfortunately the days are getting shorter which allows little time for all the things that need to get done.  The garden is pretty well done with the exception of a few carrots still in the ground and my potatoes.  I am sort of hoping my good friend Ricky Shermer may drive over any day now with his Kubota tractor with his 3 point, 6 foot rear mounted tiller.  What would take me 4 hours would take him about 15 minutes. If not I guess it's good exercise!   With October already half gone I'm needing to get in high gear if I want to have everything done by deer hunting, which starts November 8th.   My friend Carl Le Jambre stated it very well the other day....As we get older, life seems to keep accelerating.  No truer words have been spoken as I feel exactly the same way.  The clock isn't running fast as much as life is.  Oh well, I guess there's not a lot we can do other than enjoy those moments.   Carl lives in San Jose, California and is one of my respected peers.  He is also a big football fan with the Philadelphia Eagles as his home team.  I have known Carl for 23 years now and in that time the Packers and Eagles have played 17 times over that period with the record of 10 wins for the Eagles, 7 for the Pack. Although our distance has prevented any recent friendly bets lately, last Sunday night's game where the Eagles just blew out the New York Giants just prompted me to kindle our old bet for the November 16th game between the Eagles and the Packers.  The Eagles look pretty tough at 5-1 but with the game in Lambeau, I might have a chance!  Either way it will be good to see Carl and pay or collect, I'm fine with it.

18 inch Huge smallie.

Sunday was gourgeous as it presented an opportunity to get out fishing in the afternoon. On short notice I stopped by Tom Olson's place to see if he'd be interested in going out on the river for a few hours.  Basically if he showed up at 4:00, we'd head off and like clockwork he arrived.  It's a quick process to move a few things out of the way and we were off to Blair's landing.  Our main focus was to troll the deeper holes with crankbaits intending on catching a few walleyes.  With the water temperature in the low 50's, it should be a trigger for the fish to start congregating.  The first area was just up river as we fished a large current break cause by an eddy.  With a #7 firetiger shad rap and the water depth of 10 feet we pulled the lures up river to take advantage of the current.  Almost immediately something was tugging on the end of my line, about a 1 pound smallmouth.  Not a walleye but it was encouraging that the fish seemed active. After another small bass we headed up to fish the hole just downstream from Cloquet Island.  This has been one of my favorite spots and have gotten a couple of smaller walleyes earlier this year yet all we could muster was another nicer bass.  One big problem was the amount of leaves in the water, as we were constantly losing the action on the baits because they would hang up on them.  It was quite frustrating however we continued trolling as we were getting fish.  The next spot was the hole above the Steven's farm.  This area is simply a deeper hole in the river with no current breaks.  Tom has switched to a Bomber crankbait and was rewarded with our first walleye, a 12 inch fish.  Not large enough to keep it went back into the water hoping there were larger fish to be caught.  No such luck as we headed back to the first spot as the sun was getting low and the temperature was dropping.  As we trolled the edge of the eddy we started coming up to the front of the hole in 6 feet of water when I saw a big fish come up and slam my shad rap.  The water is incredibly clear as you can see 4 feet down and this fish was visible for the entire fight.  It certainly isn't the longest bass I have caught on the river but it certainly was one of the thickest and deepest fish for it's size.   Letting her go we drifted back down river where I caught a couple more small bass before we headed back to the landing.  I'm thinking another trip would be nice, this time trying jigs and minnows as I think we might be more successful.  I know the walleyes are in there, it's just going to take a little more time to find them.

1971 Ski Doo Olympique

I was in Phoenix last week and it nice.  Expecting 90 degree weather it actually rained both days.  I'm not exactly sure of the fishing around the area but I did get to spend a few hours with my friend Jim Tollefson.  Jim grew up on a farm northwest of Eleva and from the time I was 15 to when he graduated from high school we hung around together almost every day.  Whether it was me riding my bike the 3.5 miles to his house to help with feeding the cattle, haying, cleaning the barn, we always found time to enjoy ourselves.  In 1970 I had enough money saved to buy a brand new Ski Doo snowmobile, at 15 years old I was on the top of my game.  We didn't have trail groomers back then however there was enough snow to keep the trail open from the back of my house to Jim's.  Passing through what we called Indian Valley, up and across Old Baldy, the landmark hill north of town, through the woods, we really put on the miles.  I'm not sure how anyone could have as much fun as Jim and I did back then.  I guess we didn't have television (just 2 channels then), video games, computers, cell phones, and all the distractions that kids have today.  At 15 and 16 our parents didn't worry about what we were doing or if they did, they never said.  Like the statement at the end of the movie, Stand By Me...I'll never have friends like I did when I was 12, well, make that from 12 to 18.

Lambeau Magic

Greatness!

After attending the annual Coil Winding Show in Chicago last week (OK, I know it sounds boring), on Thursday my wife Lyn and I headed to Lambeau Field in Green Bay for the Thursday night game between the beloved Packers and the hated Vikings, ok I guess that's a matter of opinion.  My tickets were courtesy of my good friend Phil Gordon, a trusted confidant from Fort Wayne, Indiana who has season tickets but could not make the game.  Phil is like most guys form Sconnie, a passionate Packer fan and he was happy to share them with the same.  Anyway with the leaves in their peak fall colors the 5 hour drive did not disappoint.  From the time we hit Hudson on the Wisconsin border to Green Bay, the trees were on fire with the bright reds and yellows and orange colors.  Although the game didn't start till 7:30, I knew that getting there a little early would afford us time to take in the sights and sounds of a home game at Lambeau, and sites and sounds there were.  Lambeau Field is the oldest venue in the NFL today.  Celebrating it's 58th year of hosting the Green Bay Packers, it has a interesting history which you can see by clicking on this link:Lambeau Field.  Because the Packers are the only publicly held football team in the NFL, they decided to sell stock to raise money for additional renovations that including adding another 7000 seats.  And why not, the waiting list for season tickets has surpassed the 90,000 mark.  Taking advantage of this once in a lifetime opportunity, I bought a share for $250 and am now an official owner with voting rights.  Yes, some people say the stock is worthless yet I ask what is your Adrian Peterson jersey worth these days?  As well, Lambeau is still Lambeau and not some lame name like Sports Authority Stadium at Mile High.  There has been talk about naming rights yet I'm pretty sure that would not be met with a whole bunch of fan and shareholders support.  Anyway, deciding to park about 6 blocks from the stadium would give us an easier way out as previous games we parked very close and it was over an hour to get out.  Lambeau and Green Bay are set up for tailgating.  All along the way to the field were parking lots full of fans, their RV's parked from the night before, tents, charcoal grills and of course beer!  Even the Shell gas station had closed to make way for the fans and at $20 a care probably made more than selling gas for that time period.  There were quite a few Vikings fans mixed in with the crowd as the border battle tends to be quite friendly but intense.  With a forecast of an inch of rain predicted over game time, we crossed the road with our rain gear in a clear plastic bag (as required) and entered the stadium.  The first thing you see is the big poster of Clay Matthews gracing the fact Green Bay holds the most NFL World Champion Titles of any team in the NFL dating all the way back to 1929, and includes 4 Superbowl wins.  Pretty amazing for a city of 100,000. 

Start of the game and of the rain.

Our seats were centered just behind the north end goal posts, 53 rows up.  As predicted, the rain had started and by the time we got to our seats it was coming down pretty hard.  Kudos to my wife Lyn for bundling up as we stayed nice and dry with my fishing gear.  Luckily it was 68 degrees out as it made sitting there quite a bit more pleasant.  With the huge screens setup on each end, it was the best of 2 worlds, you could see the plays then watch it again as the did the replay.  Being in the Packer end zone during the first and third quarter we were able to see the first score, a beautiful pass from Aaron Rodgers to Jordy Nelson who was wide open deep and walked right in.  It was awesome.  Of course those who watched the game also know that the score quickly escalated to 42-0, in favor of the Packers, and if wasn't great, after the first quarter the rain stopped completely.  What a night.  Pulling Aaron Rodgers in the 4th quarter didn't sit too well with the 78,000+ fans attending the game but hey, no reason to risk an injury with that margin.  With a touchdown and field goal in the 4th by the Vikes the score ended up 42 - 10 as most left the stadium with 5 minutes to go.  I did manage to stop at the Packer Pro Shop to pick up some new hats, a nice pair of lounge pants for the ice house, and some decals for the same. If you have never been to Lambeau Field, even if your not a Packer fan, it's truly an experience.  The fans, the true tailgating, the food, the history, its definitely worth a trip to Green Bay.  I even hear that next July they are going to retire Brett Favre's number.  I guess it shows just how nice us Wisconsin guys are!

Tailgating at it's finest!

With ZERO hotels available in Green Bay, we were forced to drive an hour and a half west to Wausau, Wisconsin for the night.  Even at midnight Hwy 29 was like rush hour.  After a good nights sleep we headed back north to see my aunt Pat Schmidt in Antigo.  My mom's only living sibling, she has lived in the area most of her life.  Uncle Harold worked for the US Forest Department but unfortunately died way too young.  As a bonus my cousin Don Schmidt, was working on remodeling the house next door so I got to visit with him for a while.  My brother Steve and I were invited back to his Club Ten Grouse Tournament next weekend but timing isn't good this year.  Deciding to take in the rest of the weekend's fall colors we continued north to Hwy 8, which takes you back to Minnesota, the scenic route.  Unfortunately it rained all the way back limiting our view of the fall colors.  Managing to stop at Louie's Meats in Cumberland, WI we picked up some of their famous Packer bratwurst, brats mixed with cheddar cheese and sauerkraut.  As well they had Viking brats, brats mixed with purple cabbage and Monterey Jack cheese.  I got enough to host the neighbors at the next Packer/Viking game on November 23. 

The rain and cold has put a damper on getting stuff done around the house and time is running out to finishing up my projects on my Salem Ice Cabin.  I got the cable rewire project finished but still have to caulk the floor, replace the curtain rods and rehang the curtains, then put everything back in it's place.  It's sort of a labor of love but it still takes time.  I have a
small whitetail buck that's been really taking his hormones out on my small apple trees, I guess I should know better not to protect them more.  With a hard frost the raspberries are entering the final stages yet they are very plentiful and great tasting this year, it must have been the rain.  No fishing last week but I'm sure there's one more trip somewhere.  Sunday I drove to Mille Lacs to spend some time with Bill and deal with my Lowrance equipment.  While on Lac Seul it was impossible for me to control my trails, storing specific routs and the day's fishing history.  We finally got that figured out, too much to remember. 

Mille Lacs Report

Tom's 17.5 incher

The last week in July was the last time I had been on Mille Lacs Lake, and that was only the 3rd trip of the year.  Thinking the late September bite may have improved, my neighbor Tom Olson and I decided to head up on Saturday night to fish the sunset time, from 5:00 - 8:30.  After getting caught up on a few chores around home we hooked up the boat and pointed the truck north to fish Anderson's Reef on the southwest end of the lake.  Unfortunately this reef has been a hit or miss area, nothing like it was 20 years ago when you could easily pick off  6 to 12 walleyes trolling Shad Raps or Rattlin' Rouges.  The advantage is it has some nice structure and minimizes our time on the road.  There is 2 special areas off the main reef that can be good and one has to troll through the 10 - 12 foot water before you hit the spots.  This can be good if the fish are hanging a little bit deeper than the 5 - 7 feet that I usually like to fish.  Stopping at Bill's to drop off some raspberries we headed to the landing.  I was surprised how high the water was for this time of year, as well there appeared to be a lot of musky fisherman working Cove Bay.  Getting the Ranger in the water, we headed straight for Anderson's through the marked channel out of Cove.  Interesting as the "new" channel doglegged to the right as you entered the main lake, where as the last 10 years it was marked pretty much straight thru.  It seemed somewhat deeper and I guess I should have changed my waypoints but decided maybe later.  There was only one other guy working the 10 foot perimeter of the reef and another boat anchored in one of those "special" spots.  Working the south edge we headed towards the anchored boat, a 621 Ranger and it
was the same guy we talked to at Bill's as he picked up a couple dozen leeches. Reports of substantial catches of 10 inch walleyes have been coming from the launches and as we trolled by we saw them pull in 2 that size.  Looking for better fish we were trolling 4 inch Rouges when Tom nailed a 17 inch small mouth bass.  Before long he had another fish, actually a nice 17.5 inch walleye. With the keeper slot at 18 -20 inches, the fish went back.  Although a 17.5 inch walleye is not really worth taking a picture of, we snapped one anyway to prove if nothing else, we did catch something. Twenty minutes later I felt like a weed had tangled my lure only to find a 10.5 inch walleye hanging on the back of that 4 inch rouge...go figure.  Hitting both special spots with nothing more to show, we headed out.  The surface temperature was still 65 degrees so maybe the full moon next week along with a major cool down will change the bite.

Sunset at 5,000 feet

With snow predicted in Minnesota for this week I have been working feverishly to put the finishing touches on my Salem Ice Cabin before winter.  As stated earlier I had the underside spray foamed and expect a noticeable difference.  Finished installing the compartment door underneath the unused space by the couch, it turned out pretty nice.  With the help of my neighbor Tim's Rotozip and air stapler, it went in like it was designed to be there.  It's a perfect place for my cord storage, up front and handy.  The next thing was to install an outside cable jack to connect a satellite antenna to. Because the wiring is all pre-done I decided to replace the current inside antenna output/12 volt power jack with a dual antenna/cable outlet.  Figuring the framing would allow me to snake a wire near the floor by cutting an access hole at the back of the cabinet, in line with the jack,  I was successful in running a wire between the openings.  Using a hole saw and my other neighbor Todd, we drilled some holes, pull the coax cable through, connecting the external jack before bolting it together.  It turned out like it was supposed to be there!  Reattaching the internal cable jack, I think it turned out very well.  The last thing is to caulk around the floor with clear silicon RTV before it gets too cold to cure.

As you know I like sunset pictures and had 2 to pick from.  The first was from Saturday night on Mille Lacs and the one I chose was taken from my airline seat coming home from Chicago on Wednesday night.  The low clouds hung all the way from Milwaukee to when we landed.  Being on the right side of the plane I didn't have a nice view until we turned south for the final approach.  It was still very nice.  Off to Lambeau as we are going to the Packer Vikings game tonight.  The weather guys are calling for heavy rains so it should be interesting.  Either way the Pack should win tonight and give me bragging rights back at the office on Monday!  Once a Cheesehead, always a Cheesehead.  The high this weekend is supposed to be in the upper 40's so I'll be scrambling to keep moving on all of the outside chores.  I can finally drive on my new concrete driveway thanks to the bungled job the city contractors did with the asphalt overlay on the street in front of the house.  The good news is we have more room.  Go Pack!!

Catching Up

Pig on the Pig Roaster

This weekend was a chance to get caught up on a few things before winter is upon us and that is now less than 90 days away.  Saturday was our neighbor, Tim Kuntz annual end of summer pig roast and I usually help out in some fashion even if it's only moral support.  Finding a reasonably priced pig can be a challenge these days as he ended up going to Starbuck, MN to get this beauty, a 265 pound porker. Injecting the meat with our favorite Maple Cure from PS Seasonings in Wisconsin, he let it sit overnight before putting on his pig roaster Saturday morning.  Adding a nice rub to the outside of the pig, it looks pretty good as we slow cook it to 200 degrees.  It can be amazing how long it can take to fully break down all of the fats and connecting tissues however by 6:00 it was ready to eat.  We had a good amount of the neighbors stop by but in the end there was a lot of pork left, enough for a few good meals.  While the pig was cooking in the morning I did take advantage of Tim's cleared driveway to pressure wash the inside of my boat, cleaning what remained of our Lac Seul trip a couple of weeks ago.  With just the right slope and having a concrete surface to work on, I used some commercial carpet cleaner and my pressure washer to make it look new again.  Sometimes I feel that the sand that gets down inside the carpeting can be almost impossible to remove and  that a pressure washer only drives it deeper.  Vacuuming it out a couple of times before putting the hose to it should help but I think next time, if I have the opportunity to return to Lac Seul, I will definitely put temporary carpeting over the entire floor.  I will take one less "anxiety" point away from the trip and it's probably a good idea anyway.  My current Ranger was suppose to be "The Griz's" boat and in talking with him over the years he always put down additional carpeting while using the boat for guiding in order to protect the original flooring.   I'll have to look him up at the Sportsman Show this year to see what he used.

Cookie, Carter, and Marcus

So while I was out mowing, cleaning boats, and helping with the Pig Roast my friends Eric and Greg were busy participating in the Wisconsin Youth Hunt this weekend.  Eric to ducks is like me to walleyes as he well set up with all the equipment and knowledge to hunt in the backwaters of the Mississippi River around La Crosse and beyond.  The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources establishes a youth hunt ahead of the normal duck opener.  This really give the youngsters a chance at those first ducks before they get too wary caused by normal hunting pressure.  It's a chance to get the young interested in duck hunting, a sport that has seen a decline in participation for a while.  As you see in the picture, they were very successful bagging a number of nice wood ducks plus a nice hen mallard.  Cookie, the yellow lab belongs to Greg and his son Marcus is on the right.  Carter, in the middle is Eric's son as I've had the good fortune to fish with him last year.  As you see these kids are getting pretty good at handling a shotgun and certainly have been rewarded for hanging with their dad's Eric and Greg.  It great to see this and is definitely worth the time to recognize their efforts to keep their sons interesting in something besides video games.  

My plan for the weekend is to try and get to Mille Lacs for some night trolling.  Believe it or not, I've only been up there 3 times this year and am almost embarrassed to say so.  I guess it will depend on whether I can find someone to go with or not.  In the meantime the work continues on the Salem Ice Cabin, getting it ready for the ice fishing season.  Re caulking the floor, finally getting to cutting and installing a door to take advantage of the space under the couch, adding an external cable antenna connection and upgrading the inside one, replacing the curtain rods, finish spray insulating the hole covers, time is getting short.   Recently the City of Dayton overlaid our street in front of the house and totally screwed up my driveway.  Where it used to be 1.5 inches above the road was now almost 3 inches below it.  Although there was a solution, replace a third of my driveway to match up with the road, it was a stupid plan so I had the entire driveway redone.  It's looks great, not like somebody cobbled together a stupid plan to simply get by.  It's a 7 day wait to drive on it however the weather has been perfect for curing concrete.  My travel schedule is crazy for the next few weeks, more adventures I guess!

Lac Seul, Days 3 and 4

39 inch Northern Pike

Deciding there was too much to write about in one week, my Lac Seul report is broken into 2 parts.  It also works well as I didn't go fishing last weekend.  This trip was my longest to Canada since I was a teenager traveling with the Tollefson's and the Semingson's to Lake Nipigon.  4 full days of fishing was on the docket and admittedly the first 2 were pretty good.  Sunday was our third day on the water so the boats headed back to Wapesi Bay where we had fished the first day and did quite well.  Arriving at the same point my bait of choice was a jig dressed with a 3 inch Gulp Alive minnow, cream colored.  A few bounces off the bottom and it felt like a freight train just hit my bait.  The pole I was using had braided line on the spinning rod and you really do feel everything.  Whatever it was, it was big and after 4 minutes she surfaced, a huge northern pike.  After a couple of runs Dan finally coaxed the fish into my landing net which was not nearly as big as it needed to be.  With it's tail hanging out of the net we managed to get it over the gunnel of the boat and unhooked.  A quick measurement put the fish as slightly over 39 inches, the largest northern I have caught since the 42 inch monster that I had landed while ice fishing on the north side of Mille Lacs in 1994.   She was quite fat and we estimated her at around 17 - 18 pounds, all I know it was difficult to hold her steady while Pete took the picture.  A few snap shots and back into the water she went, one flick of her tail and she was gone.  This fish may have explained why the walleyes weren't as plentiful as they were 2 days ago.  Getting more comfortable with the reading the water and using the electronics, we began searching for active fish.   On Sunday a minor cold front went through and like most waters, it definitely affected the fish bite.  With the wind coming from the north or northwest we struggled to find any area's of concentrated fish yet between the 6 of us we managed to catch enough for dinner that night and get a good start on accumulating our take home limits for the trip which were 4 walleyes each.  With 8 walleyes packaged for transport, we cooked up all the cleaned fish from the days catch and what was left over from the previous day, we were stuffed.

A net full of walleyes

Monday was our last day of fishing on the big lake.  With the second day's success in Tuktegweik Bay, it was decided to return as the wind was already quite strong by the time we headed out.  Having a known previous trail on the depth finder was critical as one now had a trusted route into the bay though the rocky channels.  Of course our first stop was the same point that we named Dan's Hole where 2 days earlier we simply caught one after another.  Although we marked quite a few fish still hanging around the point in 20 - 24 feet of water, they seemed quite lethargic and not really very hungry.  The wind had set up a great drift and while we did manage a few fish it was time to start looking again.  Up the shoreline were a few points that looked promising and the map did show a channel heading to a smaller lake, sometimes these channels can be really productive.  With 8 fish in the refrigerator the goal was to bring home 16 keepers for the day (our definition is 16 - 18 inches), the number needed for all of us to fill out.  Bruce's boat joined us for a while but admittedly the bite was tough and soon he took off for more productive waters.  In the meantime we decided to work the bay marking a few fish here and there, catching a few here and there, checked out the channel which wasn't anything to write home about.  Eventually we fished passed an outpost camp to find a nice sand flat between and island and shore.  Again not much there. Finally at the west end of a small island, the fish marks started to appear on my screen.  Generally speaking, when those marks are a foot or two off the bottom it is a good chance they are active and feeding, and feeding they were.  Dropping the Minnkota and using the spot lock we sat in place while Dan and I reeled in one after another.  We weren't sure what was going on with Pete as he could only sit there and watch the 2 masters at work.  Although I did get a few on Gulp most wanted a real minnow on the jig as the bite was rather soft instead of simply slamming it.  After starting to accumulate a number of fish we talked about how many we should keep in the boat.  If Bruce was having the same luck we'd be over however we decided to keep 12 and assume that we were on the fish and Bruce wasn't.  With a flurry of 3 straight hours of non-stop catching we decided to head back to camp somewhat earlier than usual.  Having to clean fish, prepare supper, and get things packed for the morning ride out, it was the right thing to do as we spotted Bruce's boat in the Narrows.  With only Dave and Wayne in the boat, apparently Bruce had enough of catching fish and was in taking care of business.  A quick question to Wayne, how many did they have.............3 keepers.  The decision to keep our 12 worked out perfect as they really needed only one more to complete our catch.  Luckily within a minute they nailed the last fish as we headed to the dock.  Loading the net with the walleyes I headed for the fish cleaning house with 16 walleyes to fillet.  It was a successful trip indeed.

Waking up to a brisk north wind, the temperature had dropped to a chilly 41 degrees for the boat ride to the landing. Even fully bundled in a rain suit with many layers of clothes I was pretty chilled by the time we arrived.  Enjoying a hearty and hot breakfast at Knobby's in Sioux Lookout we were ready for the 9 hour trip back.  It was another great trip, my third to Lac Seul within a year, I'm getting to like it.  So far I have discovered 3 new areas where to fish beyond the normal spots they go to, it's a lot of fun to explore.  Now it time clean the boat carpeting and see if there are any walleyes biting on Mille Lacs.    

Lac Seul in September

Pete's High Noon Walleye

No worse for the wear because of my bonehead move on August 31st, our trip to Lac Seul finally got underway last Thursday.  As stated last week, this trip would be quite a bit different than my previous visits as we were taking my Ranger 620T.  It's was sort of exciting and worrisome at the same time.  The exciting aspect had to do with the accessories on the boat, a great depthfinder/gps, a bow mount trolling motor with Ipilot that has an anchor function, the Sirius radio attachment for weather overlays, it would be a real test of their validity on Lac Seul.  The worrisome part deals with my own, what some call anal, concerns with the huge amount of sand everywhere.  Sand is hard on carpets and can really scratch up the gunnel's if one rests their sandy shoes on them.  Without being too much of a pain I gradually let Pete know of my concerns and both him and our other guy Dan Sadler really respected my wishes.  Having a broom and a rug on the dock right where you entered the boat didn't hurt either!  The only other concern was the stainless steel prop on the Suzuki, they are great for open water performance but hitting a rock can bend the prop shaft, I know as I have done that in the past.  Prior to leaving I was able to locate an aluminum prop from Frankie's and installed it, using the stainless as a spare.  Being extra careful, we returned with not even a scratch on the prop.  The only other issue was the tilt/trim function on the motor, on Sunday it started acting up, I'm not sure what I did to fix it but the rest of the week was fine.  With the concerns addressed it was time to get into camp and hit the water.  From the landing at Deception Bay to Lac Seul Outfitters, it's about a 75 minute run at 30 mph.  We followed Bruce as he had the route on his GPS, however my Lowrance and Navionics chip had a detailed map of Lac Seul which included the safe routes displayed on the map. Although we did deviate somewhat, a safe arrival at camp was welcome.  Unloading and settling in, it started raining so it was decided that cocktail hour would suffice. 

Dan and Dave with a couple nice walleyes

Friday morning arrived as planned with coffee, eggs, bacon, American fries, and stove top toast (toasters draw too much current for the generators).  This would prove to be our staple morning meal for the next 4 mornings.  Our first destination was Wapesi Bay north west of camp and about a 30 minute boat ride.  Actually its only about 5 miles as the crow flies yet the route takes us past Tom's Landing, Pecker Point, and back southwest around islands and sunken reefs.  Following Bruce we stopped at one of his favorite points with only a few fish.  Using the electronics we moved over to the next point and drifted the 25 foot to 12 foot depths looking for active fish.  At 20 feet we found them as we deployed the Minnkota and set the anchor function.  This really works slick as the head of the motor has a built in GPS and it directs the motor to stay on that spot, or at least within 15 feet.  We started hammering them including the first picture, Pete's high noon walleye.  Fishing with a simple jig and a minnow dropped over the side of the boat was all one needed to do.  Often the jig never hit the bottom before a walleye would take it.  Lac Seul has a nice regulation, 4 fish, everything from 18 - 21 inches has to be released and only 1 over 21 is allowed in the 4 fish limit.  Our own slot is 16 - 18 inches and no fish kept over 21.  Catching over 100 fish a day is pretty easy for the boat yet our tight slot can mean limited fish to bring back to camp.  Of course we always have enough to eat yet trying to time our take home fish can be interesting.  Dave Callister was the new guy in camp and in his honor we did a genuine shore lunch.  BTW, I am the designated fish filleter as I've seen what the others do and personally I can't deal with it so it's lucky I love to fillet fish.  Going to work I cut up 10 walleyes while the rest of the crew (except Pete) started the fire, cut up potatoes, cooked up some beans, and got the oil nice and hot.  Everything was ready as I filleted the last fish, it was time to relax and chow down.  Because the shores are 99% rock one can't be too choosy where you have your shore lunch as long as it had sand, we managed to find an acceptable spot.  An hour later we were back catching walleyes, filled to the gills with shore lunch and 2 hours later we headed back to the cabin, a great first day. 

Blue colored walleye

On Saturday it was decided to head south to an area called the Goal Post.  A 14 - 20 foot flat rising in the middle of the channel, we drifted a couple of runs before anchoring again.  Although the wind was fairly strong the trolling motor held up beautifully.  Unfortunately it was difficult to fish as the wind continued to get stronger by the hour.  Deciding to leave, Bruce headed into what is known as Tuktegweik Bay as we followed.  Being out of the wind would be nice and who knows, the fish might be biting better than where we were.  Bruce headed to the front of an island to fish the face of the steep drop off that existed.  He likes this kind of structure yet I prefer the sharp drop offs then 15 - 25 foot flat area just off the points.  With little room to maneuver 2 boats we decided to go and look for fish with the depth finder.  Two points later we mapped an area where the fish seemed to be stacked, dropped the virtual anchor and again started hammering the walleyes.   What was really interesting about this spot were the "blue" coloring on the walleyes.  Checking the Internet it appears that they are simply a coloration phase of your standard walleye, much like you see then vary from dark golden, green, to almost black.  These fish were absolutely beautiful, especially as they came to the surface the color was almost neon like.  Our spot was consistently producing all day as it was hard to leave.  Before leaving we established a waypoint on the Lowrance and labeled it Dan's Hole after Dan Sadler, the guy that occupied the middle seat.  Although his fishing equipment leaves much to be desired, his fishing abilities are second to none! Catching quite a few, we ended up with enough fish for our evening dinner. 

Lac Seul is a great place to fish and as I get to know the lake better it's really fun to go exploring new places.  It's easy to have a few honey holes and jump between them yet finding new areas can be really exciting.  This spring we discovered an area just full of walleyes in the 7 foot depths and there was no one around to bother you.  It's said that you cannot catch fish where there is no fish so using the electronics to verify that a spot even holds fish became very important.  Next week will be the last 2 days of our trip as we have a wedding on Saturday and there will be little time for fishing this weekend, not that the last 4 days shouldn't last me a while!

When it Rains it Pours

First fish of the day.

Let's start off with the good stuff from last week!  While scrambling to get things done for our trip to Lac Seul this week, Pete and I found time to get out on the river for a few hours on Saturday night.  The last trip saw a couple of walleyes caught on nighcrawlers fished on the bottom, a surprise as normally carp, catfish, and suckers are the results of this setup.  It got me thinking about trolling the holes with Shad Raps, Flicker Shads, or any other bait that would tap the bottom while trolling up river.  Once on the river it was obvious the recent rains had risen the water levels over a foot from last week.  The current was faster and maybe the higher water had pushed the smallies back shallow.  We decided to head upstream and cast for some smallies before starting to troll for those walleyes.  Rigging up Pete with a spinning rod, I attached my yellow crankbait and within 2 minutes he had a beautiful 18 inch smallie on the line.  Pretty impressive however there became an immediate discussion of was it the fishing skill or the guide's attention to setting up his guest for the evening?  Of course it was my opinion that the guide had 80% of the reasoning for this nice fish being on board.   Think about it as he picked the location, the choice of rods, the ever important "lucky" bait which he could have easily saved for himself.  That debate will continue this week as we both head to Lac Seul for 4 days of nonstop walleye fishing.  As for the rest of the evenings fishing, we did get about 8 fish, a couple in the 17 inch range and a number of small ones before we started trolling for walleyes.  I put on a brown perch colored Little Ripper on my rig and a fire tiger Flicker Shad on Pete's.  Trolling to the top of the hole, our intent was if we caught anything substantial, we would continue the pattern.  About the time we decided there was nothing going, we dropped the anchor and reeled in the baits.  To my surprise was a small 8 inch walleye, the same size as I got last week hooked to the Little Ripper.  Well, at least the method has promise.  Not all that excited about small walleyes and with the high water comes more current, we decided to fish some nightcrawlers.  The sun sets too fast these days and after 20 minutes of no action we called it a night.

A nicer time, sunset on the river

Sunday was originally planned to go motorcycling with my brother Steve.  We have done this for the last 3 years as I trailer my bike down to Fountain City while my wife attends Farm Fest with her cousins.  This year I had been a little indecisive as plans were changing by the minute.  Of course at the last minute it was decided that we would go, I loaded the Victory Kingpin and met my brother at our destination.  Our plan was to head to Minnesota, go through Iowa along the river before crossing at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin before returning home.  Things were going really good, we weren't traveling too fast when we hit a left turning curve.  We were riding together as I was traveling on the outside of the lane when I got too high on the curve.  Instead of looking where I needed to go I looked straight, a big mistake.  We covered this in my motorcycle training but it was too late.  The bike went upright and straight for the guardrail.  Although my speed was more than reasonable, I should have never looked forward as now I was on a collision course.  Hitting the brakes the bike scrubbed a lot of speed before it went down.  Hitting the cable guard rail, it stopped everything like it should but threw me onto the edge of the road.  I suspect I was down to 10 - 15 mph when this happened and I sustained only a few areas of road rash and a jammed toe.  I always ride with protective clothing and I'm sure things could have been worse without a helmet, riding jacket, heavy pants and boots.  Getting up I staggered some before coming to my senses, was thankful no one hit me while I was thrown onto the road.  Walking back to the bike, it was impaled between the cables, still running and on it's side.  Unfortunately those cable guard rails do a great job of stopping you but also inflict a lot of damage as my bike was really wedged in.  I am confident that had there not been the rail there the bike would have stopped within a few feet of it, a little scraped up but rideable.   A few guys stopped by to help including a lecture on going too fast, but we finally got it out and upright.  Now the fender was pushed into the front wheel, the back tire was flat, not much I could do but hop on my brother Steve's bike and head back.  He really helped by getting my trailer and with his son in law Brandon, picked up the bike and brought it back to LaCrosse.  I guess pictures were the last thing on my mind.  Deciding to go to the Urgent Care on Sunday morning the doctor asked what's wrong.  I showed her the scraps, they took an xray of my toe which turned out OK but it was pointed to my that I have arthritis in the toes, and they showed me how to brace it using the toe next to the big toe.  She asked if there was anything else she could fix, I told her my pride.  No such luck.  I would not be surprised if the bike is totaled, but I'm hoping they can fix it.  Hitting a boat on opener, now this.....here's hoping my luck changes soon!  I guess one should be fortunate that all that happened was a few scrapes and soreness.   Therefore I decided to post a picture from the night before looking up river.

Tomorrow at 5:00 AM we head to Lac Seul and this time I'm bringing the Ranger.  I did have the sense to put on an aluminum prop, just in case, but it will be fun to fish out of my own boat.  Not one to go off exploring where I'm not comfortable with, cross my fingers, it will be just fine.  The only thing I worry about is that the water has been high and there has been a lot of deadheads in the water.  Apparently the water is down, which should help.  I guess we'll have a report next week and I'm looking for it to be as good as last year was.