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

Is this 1993 again? The rain just keeps coming!!!!

Man have we been getting rain and storms. We had another high wind and rain storm late this afternoon (maybe a small tornado) I had 3.5 inches of rain in the gauge by the end of the day.

Planned on trying to get some gills and yellow bass tomorrow but it is supposed to get back up in the 90's and remain there the rest of the week. Will have to go eaatrly and quit early.

Walleyes have been on fire this spring, primarily Silver Lake in Dickinson County, Little Spirit, and Round Lake in Minnesota. We tried Storm Lake about 10 days ago caught 3 but it hasn't been like last year.

I have added some stuff to the Ranger 619, finally bowing to age. I put some Ezee Steps on the trailer so I don't have to crawl over the Terrova get in and out on the ramp. I put a Drotto Automatic Boat Latch, I just drive the boat on the trailer up to this unit and it grabs the bow eye and Dianne just drives out. I then hook the strap up for trailering, I probably wouldn't have to but I do. Next I put a BowMount Lift on the Terrova, google it and take a look, $350.00 instead of $2500.00 for an Ulterra.  Last but not least, now that we can't trailer with the plug in the boat and it is a pain in the ass to crawl under the stern of the Ranger to put the plug in and take it out I put a FlowRite Remote Drain Plug in.

I see that next year to renew our Minnesota fishing license we are going to have to sign a document that we have read and understand all the stuff about invasive species. I don't know what the hell good they think that is going to do!! People can understand everything but if they don't abide by the rules it won't help and a few won't. The DNR in all states are doing this shit because of politics, it is too late, the invasive species are going to win. Mother Nature always wins!!!

I am outta here.

I'm Back!!

Its been a long long time since I have written an article hear, my apologies.

I launched the Ranger 619 a couple of weeks ago to make sure all is well after winter storage, and to a first run with  Minnkota i-pilot link I added to the system, it is awesome. I particularly like the "follow the contour feature", linked to a Lakemaster link compatible chip, I can run the cursor to a depth contour and the troll motor will follow that depth contour. More fishing, less manual boat control. It also has a feature called back track, that allows you to back track where you have been, without recording a dedicated track. It has spot lock that was on my i-pilot, and other features I have not discovered yet. This system Links to my Humminbird 998 SI. It should be an interesting summer.

I made a trip to Red Wing,MN with some friends last month for some early walleye fishing and it sucked. Too early.

Also made a trip to the Missouri River at Chamberlain,SD last month and it was very slow as well, fish weren't ready to spawn at all.

I have been trying to get down to Storm Lake, IA for some early season jig pitching but haven't made it yet, maybe next week.

If you get a chance, head up to the state Fish Hatchery in Orleans and take a look at the walleye and huge muskie they have in the holding tanks.

Later All.

Mille Lacs Trip a success etal.

Well, we returned from our annual trip to Mille Lacs unscathed this time, whew!!! We had a great time with friends Rick and Shirley Dicus and had a wonderful reconnection with high school buddy and college roommate Mike Newton and his wife Kathy.

This year we stayed at a private cabin that Rick found on vrbo.com, located on the east side of Mille Lacs it was really a nice place. We  hope to stay there again next year.

The walleye bite was great biggest that I caught was 27 inches. We caught many over the slot not many under the slot and damn few in the slot. The 4 of use did manage to fill our 2 apiece bag and possession limits. So we had a nice meal and some to bring home.

We found the best presentation was a Slick Stick bottom bouncer, 8 ft leader small hook and a leech. We caught a few on crawlers. I tried pulling Flicker Shads on lead core the first day and Dianne caught a nice 25 incher.

The bite in Boji Land according to reports I have been getting since we got back has been great, particularly Big Spirit for walleyes. I haven't been out since we got back so no personal experience. So far my claim to fame in Boji Land is a 45 inch muskie I caught in East Okoboji last month.
The Ranger is running great after I put new plugs in. I also just put in a new cranking battery to the replace the 9 year old Optima D31M, I am still running the Optimas for the 24 volt Minnkota Terrova. Optimas are an awesome battery. I switched to a Sears Diehard Platinum Plus, only because they were on sale online, I would have stuck with Optima otherwise. The Sears Diehard Platinum Plus AGM batteries are highly regarded as well.

Here is the 27 inch Mille Lac walleye.

2013 Softwater Season

Well the ice went out late this year and the walleye opener weather sucked but we are finally fishing out of a boat. I haven't made it out but 2 times so far with mixed results one outing on Lost Island 3 weeks ago and a night outing on Big Spirit this past Monday night 5-13. We caught fish both times but no limits. Big Spirit is a nite bite right now.
The invasive species issue it heating up here in Boji Land. The DNR has identified Zebra Mussels in East Okoboji, so the entire lower chain of the Iowa Great Lakes are in play. They have netted both Bighead and Silver carp in the lower chain and Silver Carp in Big Spirit. No Eurasian Milfoil yet. Please drain bilges and livewells and don't empty minnow buckets in the lakes!!!!!!!!!! Also hot power wash when switching from the lower chain to Spirit or wait a week before going out.The DNR biologists say that the carp can't reproduce in lakes, that they need running water ie:rivers, to reproduce. It has been my experience that mother nature always finds a way!!!!
I've been busy upgrading some things in the Ranger 619, I ditched the Ram electronics mount on the dash it simply won't hold the Humminbird 998 c/si up in rough water, I put a Cisco mount in, now no problems. I just ordered a new Uniden VHF Marine radio yesterday, the 15 year old Raymarine finally went bust. I put it in new in the 1998 Ranger 681 we had, so it did major duty. The microphone is unfixable finally. I have fixed and put it back together a few times, no fix this time and no replacement. Probably spark plugs next. Ah, boats, a hole in the water that you pour money into but a person knows the deal going in.
Getting ready for our annual trip to Lac Mille Lacs. The trip should be interesting this year bag and possession limits on walleye are now 2 each and the slot is release everything 18in or less and 20in or more, with one over 28 in the bag. So only fish you can keep are between 18 and 20 inches. The walleye population really tanked up there. Last year Dianne caught a 28.5 that was really skinny, it probably weighed only 6 lbs should have been 8. The forage base evidently crashed. It is what it is, we don't go up there to fill the freezer anyway. May have to concentrate on smallmouth an muskie.
Later

Well ice is here, I'm not on it.

Ice is here but I've not been out. I can't walk with the continuing sore on my foot that started a year ago and the ice isn't thick enough for truck traffic yet. The reports I am hearing are that it is pretty slow right now, after a burst of activity early. I see some small S-10 sized pick-ups on Big Spirit and the same in Millers Bay on Okoboji. I may get out this weekend with Rick Dicus, he has an ATV all set up and the ice is plenty thick for that. It is raining right now, turning to ice and snow later. So we will wait and see how the weather shapes up for the weekend.

Have signed the lease for our private cabin on Mille Lacs for the June trip with the Dicuses, really looking forward to that trip. Hope to get up in western Minnesota or eastern South Dakota with friends from Rapid City, SD (the Wredes).

Well, I am officially an old shit, I bought my lifetime fishing license yesterday. Social Security and Medicare didn't seem like I was an old shit this does. :-)

I am headed back up to Mayo 1-22-13. I am having a vascular study of my legs and a motion analysis of my walking. The doctor said last month that it looked to him like my shoe insert may not be relieving the pressure on the ulcer site in the arch of my foot. That might be why it isn't healing. Anyway life goes on.

Hard Water Is Coming Hopefully

Well, I am going to put the boat away Oct 30th, time to start thinking about ice fishing. I hope it is more than thinking, after last year being a poor ice year here in Boji Land.
I need to clean the boat up, get all the gear out of it, put reels and rods away, get the engines winterized etc etc.
Oldest grandson Stefan is getting married the first weekend in November so I need to get this boat stuff done prior to that.
Fishing this fall has been hit and miss for us. Dianne and I were out yesterday on Big Spirit and pretty much blanked except for small perch and one small walleye. The lake was dead flat calm, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
We enjoyed the Blues Jam last week at the Pearson Lakes Art Center, they get better each time. The house band was great, missed Joe on lead guitar tho. A young man got up and sang some Sinatra and absolutely knocked the crowd out as did a gentleman that did some great country.
We are headed for Elk Horn, NE this Sunday for Caite, Sean and my birthday party. Caite was10 October 15th, Sean will be 21 the 23rd and I will be Medicare eligible on the 23rd as well. Whew what a deal Medicare!!!!!!
I'm out of here.