Long Overdue Update

Well, I find a need to post after a long absence. This is the first weekend in about a month that we haven't had a blizzard here in Boji Land. It has been another really weird spring.

I only got out once this winter ice fishing after having the crud for a month and the day after my only outing we had a blizzard, never got out again.

I spent some time on the Mighty Mississippi 10 days ago, with high school buddy Marvin Gilbert out of Clinton,IA. We fished pool 13 at Clinton one day and Pool 12 at Bellevue the next. Fishing sucked, Marv caught about a 12 inch walleye and lost a bigger fish. I think we saw 3 fish caught in two days. The water temp had dropped to 40 and the river was rising and the water looked like chocolate milk. Anyway, it was great to spend some time on soft water with Marv, in spite of the bite. Although it is a 6 hr drive from Spirit Lake, it was worth the drive.

Dianne and I bought a new (to us) 2013 Ford F-150 XLT Super Crew with 3.5l eco boost engine. I averaged almost 19 mpg on the trip to Clinton and back. It has all the bells and whistles, spending time with the owners manual learning all the stuff. It pulls the Ranger 619 like a dream.

We finally got the Ranger in the water yesterday. I put a Drotto on the winch stand a couple years ago and part of the release got bad. It was a manufacturer defect. I talked to the rep last winter and they are replacing it free of charge. GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE! The Drotto is a device that captures the bow eye when you drive the boat on the trailer. It really makes it safer loading the boat. I don't have to crawl over the bow and search for the trailer tongue with my feet, if I'm by myself and Dianne doesn't get her feet wet at some of the boat ramps now.

As long as i'm talking about after market boat stuff, I also put a set of EZEE STEPS on the trailer very nice getting in and out of the boat on dry land. I also put a BOWMOUNT LIFT on the Terrova, $350.00 add on instead of over $2000.00 for an Ulterra. I put the Terrova in the water after I launch the boat, lift it up with the device and away I go, get to the spot lower the Terrova and start fishing. I am getting to old to be up on a bouncing deck deploying and lifting the motor by hand. I also put i-Pilot link on the Terrova and I love it.

Well that is it for now. Oh, one other thing we still have up to 20 inches of ice on the Iowa Great Lakes right now. We used the one open boat ramp with a dock to do what we did yesterday. We may be ice fishing for the Walleye Opener on May 5th.

Later