Did I mention I'm tired of winter? I'd love nothing more than to jump in the truck with Wahoo, drive south to the first open water we can cast in and re-aquaint myself with the fishes, any fish.... However, the early season in WI is a month and a half away and I guess I'll just have to suck it up. I'm not much for the winter fishing season in MN, especially with all this snow on the ground, getting around on the streams would be a chore and I'm a terrible midge fisherman anyway...
My love/hate relationship with winter/ice fishing has taken on more hate than love this winter. The fishing has been pretty poor, our usual harvest spot is overrun with micro perch and only when your willing to stay till 10pm is it worthwhile, to catch a couple crappies anyway. Last weekend 6 of us ventured to Mille Lacs for the one overnight weekend of the winter. My expectations were not high to say the least, it's that doldrums time of the season and I was just hoping for enough perch to bag and cook for Jennifer. We were greeting lakeside by pea soup fog, finding the shack was a total mess and eventually we had to run back to the lodge to get an escort. Once we found our shack we realized we had been stuck in the no man's land of shack placement, literally 1/2 mile from any structure and 1/4 mile from any humanity, thanks Hunters Resort for the shit sammy. Despite the shitty location, I had not lost hope, yet....
We pulled up the shacks on my utility trailer, which turned out to be another mistake. On our way to 3 mile bar I noticed the right rear wheel throwing up a ton of snow. I alerted Fred who was at the wheel and went out for an inspection... Sweet, broken leaf spring, that's a helluva good start. This group of 6 mustered just enough ingenuity to make a fix with load straps, chunks of 2x4's and lots of heavy lifting. Surprisingly we only had to make one more adjustment and we managed to get this thing home to the garage in one piece.
Tally for the weekend: 3 perch, 1 small eelpout. I could have done better at the park. or maybe even in the front yard for that matter. It is nice to get away but I think my overnight ice shack days are done, makes for a pretty expensive beer drinking outing.
Way to go Pack! Had to throw that in there, I barely made it home for kick off. The later stages of the game had me on pins and needles but Rogers found a way to win. Pretty exciting stuff for this packer fan.
The big Boat is gone and now in the hands of a nice fella from Perham MN. I'm turning my attention to finding a jon boat with a 20" transom, which will someday have a 30hp jet hanging off it. I think in the short term I'll add a small prop motor and am really getting excited about fishing the smaller waters and finding some virgin muskie spots on the upper croix/apple/zumbro and a couple other local waters. The small waters get ignored by most, but mostly because of the boat choice. I have realized a fancy big boat does not make a good angler and I think I can make more of my season with success on less pressured waters.
Gotta roll, go bait the squirrels who live in the eaves to come out so I can blast them, city style with sneaky high powered pellet gun shots out the window. little bastards are keeping me up at night. Urban Hunting at it's finest. might have to take a bunny or two as well, they have eaten my bridal veil bush down to the nubs...mmm bunny stew.
think warm thoughts.
BigPikeMike
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
winter! enough already....
It's January 20something and winter is already grinding on my nerves. perhaps I'm not as hardy as I once was, in fact I know I'm not. I know about living in MN, one has to make an effort to get out and make the most of it. Aside from some limited ice fishing ( and limited success) I've been a bit of a shut in. Jennifer has been lobbying for XC skis, once I get the boat sold this week I'm going to surprise her with a trip to REI and some new boards.
On the boat, yes it's for sale and I've been fielding calls all day today. WTF you say? I am sad to admit it never even left the garage last summer, with my time in AK and a busy work schedule it just never happened. What boat fishing I did do was from my shitty 12' "little boat" and honestly I enjoy the skinny water opportunity it affords. It looks like the big boat will be gone by the weekend so I need to start thinking about it's replacement. I think when I get home from AK this summer I'll be investing in a jon and hopefully a 40 horse Jet outboard. While it's a pretty limiting rig, it would provide us with a kick ass rig that goes both down river and up, could be a big asset for fall muskie guiding in the north woods.
It looks like I got me a part time job! it's been a while since I've actually worked for someone other than myself but it's been a bit slow this winter and I like to work. I'll be doing a couple days a week for a glass guy I met with last night, does some interesting stuff and it's another skill I can add to my set.
Alaska has been on my mind alot lately and we'll be fishing off a new boat this year. Curtis had a number of good things fall into place last year (and a few bad things too) but overall was good enough to sell the Salmo and his sternpicker so he ordered up a custom bowpicker from Anchorage. It'll be a 34 foot diesel twin, 12 foot wide and flush decks. All this means big, fast, efficient and comfortable. At my request he added an gear locker outside the cabin so I don't have to slog in all my stink and fish slime and wet raingear. I'll be leaving MN around the first of June this summer, home end of July. I'm really excited because Jennifer is coming up for a couple weeks at the tail end of my trip. She's never been to Alaska and I'm hoping some of Cordova's charm rubs off on her. It's no secret I'd love to live there and could make a good living with fishing and my carpentry skills. Will I be able to convince her? Time will tell.
As you can tell this is hardly a fishing report and to a certain extent I feel like less than a fisherman sometimes. Jennifer has been complaining about the lack of flaky white fish in the freezer and I've been pretty inept at satisfying her craving for bluegills. I guess we'll have to have another slab of red salmon, rats!
VENISON RULES!
Those who know me know I'm not much of a carnivore, at least when it comes to beef. This was not a conscious decision, I just kinda quit eating red meat about 20 years ago. I think it was the weekly steaks my father prepared, regardless, it was off the menu for a long time. But alas, I have a new found love for Venison. Fred, Don Herschleb and I killed 4 deer this fall on Don's land and after much butchering/brat making and patty slapping we have a freezer full of delicious Venison. It's a nice feeling to know that these animals were harvested and cared for with much respect, fred was insistent on maintaining proper hanging temps so the end result was nothing short of spectacular. As it stands we now have a freezer full of venison and red salmon, so rewarding.
For those with I tunes check out Boot Liquor Radio. Not quite XM outlaw country but still enough to inspire me to crack a beer at 1:25 as I sit here and catch up with ya'all.
The picture up above is one my budding photographer of a bride took. It was a rock bar on Avalanche Creek in Glacier NP, the bar was covered in over 100 rock cairns made by visitors over time. very cool stuff, she never fails to impress me. Great wife, great teacher and good woman. Love you Jennifer.
I'm out, not for so long this time. I promise.
bigpike
On the boat, yes it's for sale and I've been fielding calls all day today. WTF you say? I am sad to admit it never even left the garage last summer, with my time in AK and a busy work schedule it just never happened. What boat fishing I did do was from my shitty 12' "little boat" and honestly I enjoy the skinny water opportunity it affords. It looks like the big boat will be gone by the weekend so I need to start thinking about it's replacement. I think when I get home from AK this summer I'll be investing in a jon and hopefully a 40 horse Jet outboard. While it's a pretty limiting rig, it would provide us with a kick ass rig that goes both down river and up, could be a big asset for fall muskie guiding in the north woods.
It looks like I got me a part time job! it's been a while since I've actually worked for someone other than myself but it's been a bit slow this winter and I like to work. I'll be doing a couple days a week for a glass guy I met with last night, does some interesting stuff and it's another skill I can add to my set.
Alaska has been on my mind alot lately and we'll be fishing off a new boat this year. Curtis had a number of good things fall into place last year (and a few bad things too) but overall was good enough to sell the Salmo and his sternpicker so he ordered up a custom bowpicker from Anchorage. It'll be a 34 foot diesel twin, 12 foot wide and flush decks. All this means big, fast, efficient and comfortable. At my request he added an gear locker outside the cabin so I don't have to slog in all my stink and fish slime and wet raingear. I'll be leaving MN around the first of June this summer, home end of July. I'm really excited because Jennifer is coming up for a couple weeks at the tail end of my trip. She's never been to Alaska and I'm hoping some of Cordova's charm rubs off on her. It's no secret I'd love to live there and could make a good living with fishing and my carpentry skills. Will I be able to convince her? Time will tell.
As you can tell this is hardly a fishing report and to a certain extent I feel like less than a fisherman sometimes. Jennifer has been complaining about the lack of flaky white fish in the freezer and I've been pretty inept at satisfying her craving for bluegills. I guess we'll have to have another slab of red salmon, rats!
VENISON RULES!
Those who know me know I'm not much of a carnivore, at least when it comes to beef. This was not a conscious decision, I just kinda quit eating red meat about 20 years ago. I think it was the weekly steaks my father prepared, regardless, it was off the menu for a long time. But alas, I have a new found love for Venison. Fred, Don Herschleb and I killed 4 deer this fall on Don's land and after much butchering/brat making and patty slapping we have a freezer full of delicious Venison. It's a nice feeling to know that these animals were harvested and cared for with much respect, fred was insistent on maintaining proper hanging temps so the end result was nothing short of spectacular. As it stands we now have a freezer full of venison and red salmon, so rewarding.
For those with I tunes check out Boot Liquor Radio. Not quite XM outlaw country but still enough to inspire me to crack a beer at 1:25 as I sit here and catch up with ya'all.
The picture up above is one my budding photographer of a bride took. It was a rock bar on Avalanche Creek in Glacier NP, the bar was covered in over 100 rock cairns made by visitors over time. very cool stuff, she never fails to impress me. Great wife, great teacher and good woman. Love you Jennifer.
I'm out, not for so long this time. I promise.
bigpike
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