FISHHOUSE CHRONICLES: May 2005

A Perfect Evening With Mosquitoes

Some nights you pick the perfect evening to fish but the fish aren’t cooperating and the mosquitoes are. Hey I guess that’s why you call it fishing. Zach and I did just that. We did a lot of practice jigging for when the fish do bite. The few fish we did catch were large and were released to be caught again.

Zach a true trolling master has come around and become a jigging machine and has acquired a soft touch needed to feel the light biters. It’s fun to take someone out of their comfort zone and watch them have success. Way to go Z!

I promise there will be better nights and the fish will bite so that you can continue jig up an eye or two, between mosquitoe swats....FUN FUN.

Hope you find that perfect evening,

Steelheader

Z holds up a a 19" fish about to be released. Great fish great evening.

Sitting on a lake with a slot you throw back a nice 22" fish.

Here's an armfull of memories for Zach. A blast from the past. Eye candy from last year.

A Fun Night with Zach and the Mickman

I guess you could call last night a fishing trip but, it was more a slice and dice night. Let me explain, Zach and I took Mickey out fishing and the fish weren’t cooperating so other entertainment was needed. First we watch the Mickman miss bite after bite, and we heard about the missed bites…..DAMN I missed another…DAMN I missed another…..DAMN I missed another…..Need I continue. Soon we didn’t need to hear or see missed bites we began to feel them, I guess this needs to be explained. Mickman started to leave his feet trying to set the hook so the whole boat shook. HEHEHE. Finally he hooked a walleye and as I was lifting it into the boat his line breaks or his knot breaks and we loose the fish. Then Zach gave him knot tying lessons. ZACH style, lets say there was a lot of sarcasm and name calling involved…Too funny.

So off too Round Lake we go. Now the Mickman lessons are in full swing, he got lessons in jigging, hook setting, and more. He took it well though as he continued to take his nippers( Canadian Mist). Now as we’re difting and laughing I hook onto something that feels big, after a good battle I pull up a BULLHEAD. Needless to say it was Steelheader’s time to take a ripping. I called a Time Out, NO fair and what other excuse I could use but we all laughed. Hey this is my BLOG you can’t pick on me!! Anyway the night continued like this and a laughing good time was had by all. Everybody took some sh*t and nobody came away with any hard feelings.

Let me go back to the start when we were fishing Winnie. We did a Jeff V. bass trick that also produced laughs. In the middle of nowhere we through out a decoy buoy and we watched 3 or 4 boats move in on it to see what we were catching or what we saw there. Too funny!!

Just in passing Jeanette your name came up a few times and I’m looking forward to meeting you.

Zach also talked of his days as a marine and Mickman told of his brother Junior being a decorated Green Beret in Vietnam so at this time I’d like to show my appreciation to all the veterans of this great country and say THANK-YOU!! Job well done.

Enjoy your day,

Steelheader

Again we were chased around all evening by rain. We were blessed with a rainbow though.

Look at this TUNA, I mean the one in the hat and smile. He's got a hook in the corner of his mouth Jeanette....reel him in!!!

I guess I didn't mention it above in the text....we did catch a few fish.

Me and my bullhead!! May I add that I didn't catch him, I snagged him.

A shellshocked Mickman.

The end to a laughing good day. Too much fun.

What a Saturday of Fishing

GOOD MEMORIAL DAY weekend!! Hope your weather has been good enough to enjoy some time with your families. I started fishing on Friday morning fishing with Zach Dagel on a very windy day at Big Winnie. At the landing we looked out and saw 1-2 foot rollers on the lake caused by 10-15 MPH winds and the rodeo was on. After slapping the waves for about 5 to 10 miles to the to the north shore we started fishing, oh by the way there was considerable moaning and wincing from the punishing ride across the lake. The first area produced no fish so on we went pounding ourselves as we moved further west away from the landing, this is important because eventually we have to go back….HMMMMM. Finally among 20-30 boats we found fish and the catching was on. In about 2 hours we caught 20 + fish with most of them in the 14- 16 inch range great eating size fish. I wish I could tell you about how many times we pounded a wave on our way home, I’ll just say it was more than 2. Did I mention during most of the time fishing it was either misting or raining….FUN FUN FUN.

We had so much fun on Friday we just had to do it again on Saturday…RIGHT… But with very light winds and driving to a landing closer to the fishing area the ride was smooth….TY TY Zach. The area that produced the day before was slow at best Zach had the hot hand and picked up 3 or 4 small fish. After zig zagging between about 100 boats and very few fish seen caught, we moved to an area that had only 30 to 40 boats. In this light traffic and getting into the trolling pattern we found the fish, and found some bigger ones. The largest being 22 inches.

Now most people would say Time to go home after 2 hard days of fishing its time to go home and rest. COME ON now, being that it was only 3PM I called my brother-in-law Jeff and said Z and I would meet them at the dam for an evening of wader fishing. After putting the boat away we made it to the dam by 5:30. Jeff and his friend Merl already had 2 nice walleyes,a great start since I have heard no good reports coming from above the dam from the wader people. Zach got into the water and in 10 casts had 2 very nice fish. The evening was great with very nice fish being caught. Merl being a newbie to the wader fishing scene did great and caught the big fish of the evening, 22 inches of Winnie walleye put a big smile on his face. I hope you enjoy the pictures from Saturday. The fish-o-rama isn’t done today Zach, Mickey and I are heading to Winnie for an evening outing.

The guide getting down to bizzness.

Boats everywhere.

What a day, good 1 Zach.

The boat next to us caught this beauty. Way to go guys!!

Sometimes you get lucky and are on the right side of the lake.

Boats and rain clouds on Big Winnie.

Take a good look you don't see me often. Hope your fishing gets this good. Steelheader

Nice fish Zach!!

Jeff, Merl and Zach showing some nice fish. Jeff what's with the purple glove...Must and a pro fishing thing!! Ouch that must have hurt.

Merl caught the big fish at the dam....Look at this nice 22 inch walleye.

Getting dark quickly Zach catches a nice 15 inch walleye as Merl watches with a DEER in the headlights look...hehehe.

New News....The RAIN Has Stopped For Awhile

Good Morning disgusted fellow Minnesotans, yesterday was without a doubt the dreariest day in years. Its been awhile since I remember 36 hours of as steady rains as what fell. I guess the next good news to tell you is that the weatherman is predicting occasional rain throughout the Memorial Day weekend. Give me a job like that when you can be wrong 90% of the time and make a living. I guess there may be a chance for some dry activities this weekend.

This morning I’m just jotting down some random thoughts waiting to decide what’s on today’s activity list, since I’m on vacation I may golf and fish today( with a good chance of getting wet may I add).

Also for the few who do visit my blog I do have a rating counter on the bottom of the page, if you have the time scroll down and click away….hehehe. I did this to see if the visit total can get over 1,000 someday and to get someone other than family to visit my blog. Will you see any nudes or other interesting weird stuff showing up on the blog….NOT, just boring honest old ME.

Well good golfing and catch a few fish,

Steelheader

Jigging Up A Perfect Evening

Last night I went fishing with Tom Kemp, we found the perfect evening at last. The lake was calm and the temperature was in the upper 60’s. It was a big difference from the wind and rain of the first week of Minnesota fishing. Although the fish did not cooperate we both enjoyed a quiet evening of jigging and BS, doesn’t get much better than that.

I took some pictures of the secret lake and those who have been there will recognize it in an instant. Even a puddle lake in a swamp has its scenery to share, I hope you enjoy the pictures.

Well I’m golfing tomorrow night so I’ll take a day off from fishing. I hope the rest of you can wet a line.

Later

Steelheader