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Last week I spoke briefly about some things to look for when targeting weed walleyes and getting to know the types of weeds to better understand the clues and tips they can give you as to what the bottom substrate would be like. This week I will talk about specific tactics to use to pull fish out of the weeds. First of all live bait rigs like lindy rigs and spinners can be fished along the edges of prominent weedlines that have distinct and defined edges. Trolling is an option with longer weedlines as is casting and slowly moving these baits to the boat from a fixed position. The main problem with working both shallow and deeper weed edges at this time of year is that the perch and panfish will absolutely drive you nuts pecking at your bait until it is gone. Gulp imitations are slightly better but again the panfish will tend to hen peck at your offering and trying to discern a subtle take from a walleye versus that of prolific panfish will begin to wear on you. I like these tactics better at dawn and dusk or just after dark to maximize my chances at eyes with less distractions from the panfish. The second drawback, is that most weedlines are not so clearly defined that you can troll long distances without contacting and fouling with spotty clumps of weeds growing out a distance from the actual weedline itself. Jigs and minnows? Another good choice but again the panfish are apt to take a jig and minnow and in the heat of summer minnows can be tough to keep alive. Gulp again is a good option for pitching edges and pockets. What then are the best options for midday or late afternoon? I like to pitch paddle tails, pulse R's and curly tailed grubs or 4" finesse worms and ring worms on weed weasel or oddball 1/16th-1/4 oz jigs into the weeds. This technique does not call for stout bass gear and heavy line but a high vis mono or 10-15# braid works well for me. I pair this with a 6'6" or 7' rods in a medium or medium light action with a fast action tip. I position the boat over the shallow sand if I am fishing shallow or over the edge of the breakline if fishing deep and pitch the jigs from 3 to 6 feet into the weedline and let the jig fall to the bottom while counting it down and watching my line for any sharp taps or sudden stops. The reason I mentally count the lure down is that at times once the jig clears the canopy and gets into the open stalks below many times walleyes will swim up and snatch the jig before it reaches bottom. In the case of a premature stop, I give a gentle but firm wrist flick to either dislodge the jig from the weeds and let it continue its decent or set the hook on a fish and work it out of the weed edge. Once the lure hits bottom a standup head like an oddball jig will hold the offering enticingly upright. I will let the jig rest from 1-5 seconds before giving a gentle but firm wrist flick to hop the bait forward 6-12" and repeat until I am clear of the weeds and then I will use a slow retrieve straight back to the boat or I may hop it a few feet out onto the sand or down the break on the way back to the boat. I like a weed weasel jig when I have a sparse weed like cabbage where I can hop and swim the jig through the stalks. The forward facing eyelet helps the jig to slither over and around weeds rather effectively. This is two of the tactics I like to use when looking for weedline walleyes. This is a fairly slow paced technique, much like live bait rigging but it allows you to work the edges and into the weeds where fish are waiting to ambush prey as it happens by. This technique works both deep and shallow but the key is not throwing your jig to far into the weeds that you lose all feel of your bait. Most often the walleyes will be hanging within 10' of the edge in the shade just waiting for an easy meal to happen by and often these fish will elicit savage strikes leaving no doubt if you got bit or not. Next time you find yourself on a weedline think about probing into the weeds rather then just working the edges. You may be surprised at some of the fish you end up with on the end of your line! Tightlines! Tunrevir~

Bass fishermen have known for years that weedlines and weed line transitions concentrate and hold fish but mention weeds to a walleye fishermen and many of them will shy away from fishing in and around the weeds opting for easier, more familiar presentations like pulling live bait rigs or spinners away from the salad. To catch walleyes among the weeds you need to know the types of weeds and the habitat in which they grow. Often you can rule out lily pads and cattails as they tend to grow over mucky bottoms and will tend to be marginal spots for walleyes with the exception of early spring and late fall. Early spring the water will warm in the dark bottom bays first and baitfish and forgs will be available as forage sources and hungry walleyes will take advantage of this making feeding forays into the shallows under the cover of darkness. This pattern is most pronounced in the fall when frogs begin to migrate to these areas to spend the winter. One of the best areas to poke around for weed walleyes is near pencil reeds and the adjacent sand flats and weedlines that surround them. Pencil reeds tend to grow on a sand and gravel bottom in 3-6' of water and are a good option to fish near from opener into early June. In some lakes like Winnebago in Wisc., and Cass lakes Pike bay fishing the edges with slip bobbers and leeches or minnows can be outstanding. Once walleyes have spawned and begin to disperse over the sand flats they will start to concentrate along the first break and weedline where there is available forage. Often this puts us in the 6-8' range where sand/mud transitions form and you see a solid weedline or a drop off into deeper water. The sand flats will hold pods of walleyes that will be scattered about looking for perch, shiners and bluegills to feed on. Traditional jig and minnow, plastics can be worked but I prefer to fancast with crankbaits employing techniques that I outlined in previous blog entries. Working out to the weedline surrounding the sand flats near the adjacent reeds you can employ a variety of techniques. On larger flats you can troll stick baits or employ live bait rigs to contact scattered fish but I like to slowly cruise the edges of the weedlines with my trolling motor and fancast crankbaits parallel to the weedline and out onto the sand flats picking off a fish here and there. Slow rolling shad raps early with water temps in the 45-55 degree range and later as water temps move into the mid sixties lipless rattle baits and spinner baits begin to excel. I prefer to use the crankbaits over live bait to discourage pesky panfish and concentrate on the larger predators. You may be pleasantly surprised at the variety of fish you catch including pike, bass, muskies and even some larger panfish when employing this technique in addition to the walleyes that you are targeting. Sand flats are often covered with chara which is a stringy brittle weed that has a slightly skunky smell when you remove it from your hooks. It is a good indicator of a sandy bottom and does not grow over mud. Weeds that make up weedlines tend to include milfoil, coontail and potoemagon(cabbage) which tend to grow where sand and muck congregate at the edges of sabd flats and can be found from 3-8' in most lakes. Depth of the weedline formation is an indicator of bottom content and weeds growing into the 3' range generally indicate a muddy bottom where weedlines forming in the 6-8' depth indicate a sand to mud transition and are a good place to start your search for weedline walleyes. Next week I will go into more detail on tactics for working into the weeds to contact fish and some other details to look for that tend to be more high percentage spots for walleyes. Tightlines! Tunrevir~

I want to thank all of the Veterans who have sacrificed to protect our freedoms in the US. Veterans who have sacrificed part of their lives, time away from loved ones, and sometimes even more. The news headlines are filled with people who, in my opinion, have absolutely no idea what a wonderful country that this is. And they are protected by the individuals who make up our military. So, in case no one else reaches out to you today, thank you for your service and God bless you.

Don’t know how to say this so I am just going to go ahead and put words to paper so to speak and tell you. I have made mention about going to the city and seeing a specialist and having some tests done. Monday I returned to get the findings and got some news I was not expecting. I am a diabetic and have been having trouble with my kidneys. Blood work has shown I have a serious problem and my kidneys are failing. I expected to hear this and also to learn of a treatment plan. On Monday I was told that my kidney biopsy showed that my diabetes is not the cause of my kidneys failing but instead I have been diagnosed with a rare blood disorder which is attacking my organs. 　 The last several days I have been sharing this information with my family and a few very close friends. I am still in the discovery stage of this and I have several appointments in the next few weeks with blood doctors and my kidney specialist. The really bad part is that this is a rapid blood disorder which very little is really known about and treatment's options are limited. I am telling you this as many others in the past have stated that the members here are like an extended family. I am still trying to get my head around this and as my doctor said she will be right with me learning about this as she has never seen a case of it. 　 I don’t just want to stop writing and disappear and leave my disappearance to speculation. I don’t know how often I will write or if I will ever touch on this subject again. I have also decided not to reveal the name of the disease as I don’t want people searching the Internet to find me an herbal cure or to give me their experiment options. Some may take this as being rude but for now this is going to be a private battle. I have been given access to the doctors medical library so I can do my own research and become as knowledge as I can so have I have some level of understanding when speaking with doctors. I have just found myself a new hobby. 　 I am posting this on the Lake site as many of you have been a part of my life for the last ten years.. In closing I would like to say Kiss your wife, hug your kids and grand kids and pet your dog and don’t let the little things bother you, they really don’t mean much in the big picture. After the DOC told me the news and we talked for awhile she asked me if she could do anything and how I felt. I was at a loss for words and the only thing that came to mind was "It is what it is" Dan

In earlier sections I spoke about weed walleye tactics and some of the things to look for and crankbait tactics for early season fishing. As the water temps continue to climb into the upper seventies and low eighties the fish will seek the cover of the weeds and the relative cool deeper water by sliding slightly deeper and moving to offshore humps and deeper breaklines where they bottom out into the basin. This time of year I switch my search to these areas and will cruise the breaks with my electronics looking for pods of fish on the break, near humps and at the bottom of the breaklines where they meet the basin. If you found fish on the shallow edge on the sand flats early in the year these areas are a great place to start your search along the deeper edge of the weedlines and out into the basin. I find myself fishing in the 14-25' range during the heat of summer. One tactic that allows you to cover water is to troll bottom bouncers and spinner rigs. I prefer to use gulp crawlers and leeches to keep the pesky panfish from stealing my bait or trolling deep diving wide wobbling baits like salmo hornets and wally divers to get at the deeper fish. It seems like the fish respond better to a wider wobbling bait trolled at 1.5-2 mph then a tighter wobbling bait like a shad rap this time of year. I use an Okuma line counter reel on a 8'6" medium action Gander mountain trolling rod spooled with 20# power pro tied directly to my crankbaits. On the waters I fish the water clarity is low and the fish aren't line shy but a floro leader can be added when fishing clearer water. The 8' rod has a soft tip so when a fish hits the hooks won't pull free. Trolling the deep edges of the weeds will allow me to find scattered fish and the decision to run cranks or spinners for me is dictated by the aggressiveness of the fish. If I start with cranks and come up empty on areas that appear to be holding fish I will switch tactics and slow down a bit to see if I can get the fish to bite. As we ease into August the shallow weeds start to die back as well as some of the deeper weeds which makes trolling large flats less frustrating as you won't foul your baits as often. The deep water tactics will hold untill the water cools in September. The lakes I fish perch, bluegill and shiners are the predominant forage base and the walleyes will follow these fish when feeding. On larger deeper lakes with tullibies and whitefish you can start trolling the open basin areas with cranks or spinner rigs on leadcore in the 25-50' range targeting the suspended walleyes that are out foraging on these tasty whitefish. Basin trolling with leadcore is fairly simple and will be covered in my next entry. Tightlines! Tunrevir~

Last entry I talked about using cadence changes to trigger fish and using the sweep method to trigger neutral fish. Today, I will talk about another similar method which is burning baits across flats and ripping. As summer water temps continue to rise many walleyes will begin to transition from post spawn staging areas on shallow weed edges to the deeper edge of the weedline near the first break into the basin. In many lakes this will put you into the 12 to 15' range. This is prime habitat for a ripping retrieve. Typically I will fish this edge with rattling raps or ripping raps using a 7' medium action spinning rod with the reel spooled up with 20# braid. If there is a large population of pike or muskies I will beef up to 50# braid on a 7' medium heavy rod with a bait caster. The heavier setup decreases the odds of bite offs. Natural shad or bluegill is a good starting point for lure color in many lakes but sometimes the firetiger and perch colored baits will out perform the lighter colors. The ripping method is fairly simple, make long casts parallel to the weed edges and out into the basin, let the bait fall to the bottom on slack line and once it reaches bottom begin a series of sharper sweeps pulling the bait ahead 3-4' at a time and letting it plummet to the bottom before ripping it up and ahead another 3-4'. One of the keys to this method is watching the line for any sharp taps or watching for the bait to stop falling prematurely before reaching bottom. When either of these things occur sweep the rod up and set the hook. It becomes fairly easy to tell a strike as they tend to be reaction strikes and the fish really pound the bait. This method is aggressive and will trigger neutral and negative fish into reaction bites when they would typically not pay any attention to a bait presented with a normal straight retrieve. Incidentally, this is fast becoming a favorite way to fish jigging raps during open water where #7 and #9 size jigging raps have come to find a niche. Burning baits for walleyes seems a bit counter intuitive because many walleye techniques are slow finesse presentations like bottom bouncers and spinners or drifting live bait rigs but when the water temps come up so does a fishes metabolism and they are feeding regular and often. Burning is great technique along shallower weedlines and sand flats during the summer using lipless rattle baits and spinner baits for walleyes and this is the simplest presentation yet. Simply make a long cast, count the bait down and reel it quickly back to the boat. This method will allow you to cover alot of water and trigger active fish found along the inside weedlines and the shallow sand flats adjascent to them. The key is getting the bait moving just fast enough that it occassionally ticks bottom. Once bottom contact is made raise the rod tip slightly and increase the speed of your retrieve slowly lowering the rod as the bait moves closer to the boat to keep it in the strike zone. This type of retrieve will cause reaction strikes from bottom hugging fish well into July. I like to work 5/16th and 1/2 oz baits using this technique and you will want a reel with a high retrieve rate for this to be effective like a shimano symetre 3000 or Garcia C4. Good luck and tightlines! Tunrevir~

MYSTERY RIVER IS giving up fish to old guys and kids who ride their bikes to the shore and toss out into the water from shore. Not many boats working the river as with the season open everyone is fishing their favorite little lake. I spent the last week in the hospital once again and I am not going to spend the time writing about it as there are other things to write about. I am back at home and I am trying to get through another set back but it seems that is all I am doing. Before I went into the hospital I did go shopping with the two daughters and we did find a new couch and a new rocking recliner chair which I gave my stamp of approval on. The wife also gave me a thumbs up on my choice so last night I slept on the couch by choice, back felt better when I woke up on it then I went to sleep so I might have found my afternoon napping spot. 　 While I was in the hospital we did lose a pet. Smochie the Siamese cat got sick and died. More the wife’s cat then mine but I did wake up this morning missing her chewing out her kids which she did on a regular basis every morning. I will have to add her name to the sign that rest at the edge of the pet cemetery we have here. Grass needs to get cut and I have a list of things that need to be done today. The three ten and eleven year old grand kids will be here this afternoon and they are willing to work so I am working on there own do list. Sunshine Ray is calling for thunderstorms tomorrow so the rain barrels need to be moved and lids screwed on. The three new raised beds I hope will be put in the garden and filled with dirt today and then the paths mulched. If this gets done then the butterfly garden will get planted out in front. 　 I am looking forward to sitting on the covered swing on the deck tomorrow and if it is a warm rain I might just stay out there all afternoon. Has to be better then sitting in a hospital room with no air movement. Of course I will be thinking of more jobs for the grand kids to do. Tobacco in the cabin was not watered so they died while I was away so no plants to plant this season. I really don’t have the time to watch them so I will just plant more vegetables in the gutter gardens this season. The two daughters are going to buy me a cement mixer as my fathers day/756 birthday present, for those of you who keep track in years that is number 63. Today is my 755th birthday which is the one that I keep track of. The cement mixer will be used for remixing all the potting soil I made last season. About a 1000 pounds which is not something I want to do in a wheelbarrow. The grandkids should have fun doing it till it becomes work. Well I have a ton of mail to go through and have to make my do list while keeping in mind that I have to work slow or get someone one else to do it for me. Sure wish I was fishing as the last week has been pretty decent weather wise here at Lake Iwanttobethere. When I do get fishing and I will I am going to take the time and enjoy every cast I make and every fish I catch will be a special one. This post is someone short but just wanted to let you know I am still around and there may be times when I can not post for a few days or several days. Life still goes on here at Lake Iwanttobethere

I am beaming here at Lake Iwanttobethere, just back from the DOC’s office where we discussed the current treatment plan. The good news is that my unplanned stay at the hospital last week was a success as my blood work came back today and I am back inside limits on several tests that were way out of bounds and were getting into the critical stages. I did gain 25 pounds in water weight but have already shed it all in the past three days. Let me tell you walking around with all that made balance and blood pressure tough to control. I see some stories coming so you might want to grab a can of Hamm’s when I start posting them...

BEING SICK CAN sure take up a lot of your time. Monday I had my first chemo treatment and the day was spent waiting in waiting rooms for doctors who were running late and lab reports. I got a rundown of side effects from the doctor then a more tailored one from my nurse. She was a better resource as she knew what the drugs I am taking were going to do. I got a mess of steroids which she told me may give me some insomnia, she was right! I finally fell asleep at 6 am Tuesday morning and only slept for five hours. Gives a guy a lot of time to think when you are laying in bed with your dog looking at the ceiling. 　 So if my Honey Do List is not long enough I thought up a bunch more things to add on to it. Yesterday afternoon I was feeling pretty good so I went down to see Big Earl at the General Store and I had my list with me. I filled the cart with light bulbs and dog food, dog bones a replacement handle for the toilet which I had noticed a crack in and I know will break anytime now. Shopping at Ma and Pa’s Grocery where Pa said he can set my up with some baby steaks and promised they would not be scrap cuttings. He was going to cut me up some nice thick slices of bologna but I told him that is not on my list so instead he carved me up some turkey. 　 Went to see Burt and Bart at the barbershop and got a buzz cut, good chance I am going to be losing some hair so I would rather have it be small pieces then long. Didn’t get my beard trim as for some reason that is not affected. Burt cut my hair and for the first time ever he said it "Was on the house" I still gave him a tip and made him take it. Walked outside and my head froze, must remember to bring a hat along now. This morning I had yet another test to go to and when I left the cabin and I had the hat pulled down low but it was cold enough I could feel my beard freeze on the walk to the Tahoe. 　 Sitting here now catching up on e-mail and answering the phone. Most of the calls are actually for me and not for the wife which is strange. Late this afternoon I am going to go do a house inspection for my daughter and her husband who are looking at a place closer to us here at the lake. Been awhile since I have done one and it will not be an official one but will be more of a walk through to see if I notice anything that will flag the house. I don’t like doing them in the winter as you can’t really check the roofs out and the grounds but It is on paper a pretty good deal and there ready to move out of the tiny house they are in now. I am also hoping they are going to get it as I will be able to dump a lot of stuff I have and will no longer be needing. Would rather keep stuff in the family then selling it to strangers or worse yet just giving it away. A lot of other stuff going on but I have this do list in front of me that needs to be attended to while I am feeling good. Tomorrow is another session and I am planning on expecting some down time. DOC tells me I should stay as active as I can be and when I told him I write a blog he told me to make sure I stay on top of it. Good for me to keep my mind working and good to not drop any hobbies matter of fact he told me I should try and find even more ways to be active. I told him he needs to find out what is going on here at Lake Iwanttobethere

Update: I am now seeing a blood specialist who yesterday in my visit told me that my blood disorder is not curable BUT it is treatable and he has past experience with a patient and has a treatment plan. The next couple of days I will be undergoing yet more testing with another biopsy and a couple of different scans. Going to have some side effects from treatment that are going to effect my pleasant disorder. (Inside joke to those who know me) Treatment will start as early as next week after tests results are in and I will be going through three rounds spaced over 9 weeks. If treatment shows positive results then I will be heading on a road trip to either the Main U or Mayo for cell transplant. I don’t think I will be fishing on opener but if this works the DOC told me I should have a good chance at fishing this summer still. DOC seems like a real good guy but he is a walleye fishermen. Thank you all for the good thoughts they look like they are working Dan

Chasing Dogs Riding Bicycles Chasing Dogs Riding Bicycles I woke up in a panic. I’ve had nightmares before but this one was different. You see no one was chasing me, I wasn’t falling from a high place and I wasn’t behind the wheel seeing headlights. I had just knocked off a bluegill at the bottom of the hole that I suspected was an honest two pounds. In a world where most anglers rarely find a one pound bluegill, this was a nightmare of epic proportions. Waking up safe and sound on top of the covers and coming to the realization that I had never hooked this fish was a huge relief. Fish of this caliber, while extremely rare, do exist beyond my unusual dreams. Legendary bluegill hunter, Bruce Condello, and his group of bluegill aficionado friends, had shirts made of dogs riding bicycles because honest three pound bluegills are about as common. Bruce specifically has five bluegills to his credit that went an honest three pounds in his home state of Nebraska. If we were to start a fantasy bluegill fishing league, another of my top draft picks would have to be Clayton Davis of North Dakota. Davis recently captured a 12” two pound specimen late ice this past winter and has many other large fish to his credit. While scarfing down a gas station burrito on the way home from chasing bluegills all day may have led me to strange dreams of massive pie plates, I wanted more. I wanted to know what it really takes to land a personal best this ice season. How do these anglers select lakes that have the capabilities to produce this caliber of bluegill? Does it relate to the genetics of the fish or is it simply a matter of finding over fed obese populations? What voodoo mind tricks are involved in finding dogs riding bicycles? North Dakota angler, Clayton Davis, has really made a name for himself the past few seasons with his social media bluegill pictures. Living in an area where walleyes and perch reign as king, he has found populations of giant untapped bluegills. Davis has a system of finding lakes that have trophy potential and it starts with looking into state stocking reports. He explained to me that you not only need to check available data on bluegill populations but also try to locate lakes with large pike. Lakes that boast populations of large pike typically have a balanced population of bluegills. Balanced populations have the potential to grow large fish versus lakes that have over abundant populations of fish that will end up stunted. Lakes will only support so many inches of fish so these large predators are needed to keep the population in check and the size good. After selecting lakes with high caliber potential, Davis begins his search. He notes that pencil reeds are paramount when searching out a new lake and big bluegills are usually in close proximity. He will start shallow and work his way through the mid depth weed flats out into the basin. During late ice, which he considers the best time to chase pie plates, he often finds giants in as shallow as three feet of water. Using the weed fishing mode on his Vexilar FLX-28 allows Davis to see his jig and approaching fish in this heavy cover. He explains that the weed mode drowns out clutter from the weeds and has been instrumental in his success. When he begins to find medium sized fish, he will often drill a large concentration of holes to circle that immediate area. This allows him to dissect the weed beds and find the best vantage points. Places for fish to ambush prey, while also providing cover from large pike, are going to hold the largest gills. He described that a sort of pecking order exists in the world of bluegills and big fish will take these prime locations and push smaller fish out into the fringe areas. The founding father of modern ice fishing, Mr. Dave Genz, has been chasing high caliber bluegills since childhood. He likes to look for big bluegills in lakes that will sometimes experience a partial winter kill. Yes, you read that correct. This is a theory that has worked well for Genz over the years. It goes back to a lake only being able to support so many inches of fish. A partial winter kill will thin the lake enough for the remaining fish to thrive and grow large. In order for this to happen at least part of the lake has to be shallow limiting oxygen after the weeds die off mid-winter. This is one of the few events that can reverse the effects of lakes that house over abundant stunted populations. Pursuing pie plate sized bluegills is my passion. I have spent countless hours milling over maps and lake data looking for the next lake that may produce a fish over 11”. I have found a few factors that I like to look for when trying new waters. The first would be current. Lakes that are connected by rivers and have some current running through them for whatever reason are always top producers. While I have not completely figured out the correlation, give this trick a try and I promise you won’t be disappointed. The second thing I like to look for is the presence of shrimp. Amphipods or shrimp are high calorie meals for bluegills and can bulk up fish faster than other invertebrates. If obese gills are on the docket this winter, find the lakes with shrimp and current. The other piece of the puzzle is genetics. Male bluegills pass on genetics to their offspring. Just as my children will never be as tall as Shaqueille O’Neil’s children, 7” male gills do not have the proper genetics to produce 11” bulls. Bruce Condello, owner of the website bigbluegill.com, has his own strain of bluegill called Condello gills. He has created this strain on a private pond that he manages by netting the pond every year in October. By taking out all bluegills except the largest 1/10 of 1 %, he has created a sort of super strain that can grow to 10” in sixteen months. One thing this tells us is that when anglers sort to keep the largest bluegills as table fare, we are genetically making our bluegill populations smaller. It is important that the bluegill aficionado recognizes this and opts to release big bulls and instead harvest more abundant smaller fish. When hunting down giant Nebraska bluegills on public water, Bruce likes to look for lakes that house large concentrations of juvenile largemouth bass. It goes back to the theory of lakes only being able to support so many inches of fish. According to Condello, largemouth bass in the 11” range are eating machines and keep populations balanced. This allows remaining bluegills enough food to pack on pounds. He also looks for lakes that have, what he describes as, high water quality. Lakes that have submergent vegetation, clear water and low nutrient loads are his top choices. Clear lakes have better sunlight penetration for weed growth. These lakes with rooted vegetation produce oxygen from the bottom up so fish don’t get stressed and can continue to feed even throughout difficult periods of the year. Lakes that are highly nutrient laden lack the sunlight penetration to grow deep rooted vegetation so oxygen comes from algae and can dip to low levels. He also noted the importance of appropriate sized invertebrates for the fish to feed on in the early stages. If another species strips out the 1 mm sized invertebrates, young bluegills must become risk takers, leaving the protection of the weeds in search of an open water food source. This often leads to them being eaten by bass. He believes that having enough of the correct sized invertebrates is more important than the amount of available spawning habitat in a particular lake. Avoiding lakes with small stunted populations is paramount. Lakes with an overabundance of weeds will foster small fish and stunted populations. Ideal waters are comprised of less than 10% weeds. Heavily weeded lakes will protect more bluegills from predation than the food source can support and the population will stunt. Condello’s best advice for an angler looking to ice a personal best this winter is to first, find lakes that have big bluegills and second, sort through a lot of fish. Visualize the items that a large bluegill may eat that a medium sized bluegill cannot. Big bluegills have bigger mouths than their medium sized counter parts so bigger baits are often necessary. Pay attention to the depth that the bigger fish are using. Don’t be afraid to leave medium sized fish to search out giants. The ice season is finally upon us and with it brings an opportunity to spend time with friends and family on the hard water again. Whether you or I ice a personal best or not this season, the charm is what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope (John Buchan). I guess I just love chasing dogs riding bicycles.

Memorial Day weekend is coming up and I have things like a long weekend, grilling and fishing on my mind. But as I was heading home last night, I took an extra look at the memorial in Shieldsville. I remembered to keep gratefulness to the men and women of our armed services in mind. OUR DEBT TO THE HEROIC MEN AND VALIANT WOMEN IN THE SERVICE OF OUR COUNTRY CAN NEVER BE REPAID. THEY HAVE EARNED OUR UNDYING GRATITUDE. AMERICA WILL NEVER FORGET THEIR SACRIFICES. President Harry S. Truman United States of America Normandy Visitors Center

YESTERDAY, ANOTHER RAIN day so it was not a fishing day so I have yet to lose a day. I should note here that I am referring to the far side of the lake where the season open last weekend. This side of the lake is still a few days away. I am moving around better and spending more time back in the den and surfing the web. I have noticed that when I leave the den chair and head to the living room that the old couch and chairs are not very comfortable. I broached the idea with the wife that perhaps it might be time to buy some new living room furniture and to my surprise the wife agreed it may be time. I started off with a nice overstuffed chair and perhaps a couch and she added a love seat to seal the deal and I surprised her by saying that was good with me as long as I got to pick the furniture. She agreed which surprised me! Got her back by in listing my oldest daughter who loves to shop and it didn’t take much for the daughter to set a date to take me furniture shopping. 　 I got up this afternoon to the smell of baking cookies and I should have known something was up. Double batch of oatmeal raisin cookies were cooling on the racks and I had not even asked for them. Round three or so Elmer just happen to drop by and he had a plastic bag full of pie pans. I thought he had gone to the thrift shop only to find out he was cleaning house and all the pie pans were ours that he was returning. Around four or so there was a knock on the door and here standing in the rain was Burt from Burt and Barts Barbershop. Well I invited him in and he headed for the kitchen with a paper bag in hand. I was trying to renmber if we gave him pie in pans when instead he opened the bag to reveal his haircutting cape. He told me the wife said I needed a trim and didn’t think I could get into his chair at the shop so he being a friend that just happens to be a barber came out to give me a trim at home. He then looked me over and said the wife was right, I needed a trim and then some. 　 Well, I sat down in the chair and did not protest too much, I could use a trim on the beard and I was not going to let the wife any where close. Another knock on the door and in comes DOC Buriem and Vic and right behind them was Chuck with a twelve pack of Hamms. Since I could not go to the barbershop it looks like the barbershop came to me. In no time the scissors were nipping away at my hair and small talk about the upcoming fishing season and small wagers over who was going to catch what were made. Hamms were cracked open and raisin oatmeal cookies eaten between sips of the beer. I did try a sip of beer and a cookie and I will tell you it is an acquired taste. With cookies and beer gone the guys left and I was looking a little better. The wife cleaned up the hair from the floor and Duncan kind of gave me a second look to make sure I was who I was. It is still raining out so another day where fishing was not going to be happening on either side of Lake Iwanttobethere

SPENT A GOOD portion of the day just dozing. Got to take advantage of when I can sleep as Mondays are not good days for me. Grand daughter was here and the last of her girl scout cookies were picked up and then she had to leave for her cross county ski lessons. As luck would have it no sooner did she leave then a light snow stared to fall. Just a few flakes here and there but as the afternoon went on they covered the cleared deck to a depth of perhaps an inch or so. When evening rolled around the son in law was over with the dogs. Tonight they are heading out on vacation to Missouri where we have some relatives. They will be spending a week down there and we checked the weather and they are going to go from the snow of here to temperatures maybe as high as sixty, I would have like to gone with. 　 The black lab and the Austrian shepherd said good-bye to their owners and made themselves comfortable here. The shepherd up on the couch and the lab tucked into the corner on his bed. Duncan just looked on and gave me the "House guest look" of his and climbed under my desk to lay at my feet. The wife was gone as the two young grandsons took her out to dinner which left me home to take another nap. Ever notice that it is hit or miss when you get on the Internet? There are days when I can spend the entire afternoon finding things to read or going on the boards and typing away and then like today it is just quiet, at least for me. 　 A little while ago the wife came home with a smile on her face and complements for the grandsons who were perfect gentlemen on their dinner date. I kind of poked around for some leftovers in a doggie bag but there were none. I got a call from the Lodge that Lenny was looking for his girl scout cookies and he asked if I was still delivering, I had nothing better to do so I told him to hang tight and I would run them over. They were the last ones I had here so it was all the excuse I needed to get out. I left the dogs home and told the wife I would be back shortly and she questioned me if I should be out driving, told her I needed the air and she told me if I felt that good I could just as easy go shovel. I declined. Just enough snow had fallen and it was the light stuff, I started the Tahoe and backed out and turned the wipers on to take the snow off the windshield and deposit it on the drive not in my parking space. Slipped it into four wheel drive and headed down the drive. Made the turn on the road that takes me to the Lodge and took it out of four wheel drive and started drifting around the bends on the new snow. No other tracks and the woods were dark with just the light from my headlights reflecting off the new snow. Not driving reckless but driving with control I let the back end of the Tahoe break loose in the corners before giving a little gas and straightening out, Like a skier going down the hill I worked my way through the gates to town. Sometimes simple things like driving in snow can be so much fun. I dropped the cookies off and headed back to the cabin about half way there I came up on tail lights gliding around the turns and I followed at a distance behind. A little more snow was falling and the wipers were on but it was as much fun going back home as it was coming into town. I watched as the lights blinked out in front of me and as I turned to go up my drive I saw Elmer was walking away from his truck in his drive. We had both just gone out for a drive on a snowy night here at Lake Iwanttobethere

A VERY PRODUCTIVE day today here at the cabin on Hidden Bay. Some light rain fell which is helping with the snow melt and no dripping from the eves as the snow is all gone along with the little ice dams there were on the out buildings roofs. My son in law's birthday today and along with his wife, my daughter I set up a surprise present. Since I know that I am not going to make eighty and even seventy may be a reach I am working on gifting my rifles and shotguns away. I want to keep things in the family and I know the son in law has to borrow a gun for deer hunting. My thought for his thirty fifth birthday was to gift him a thirty-five year old 30-30 with scope and hard case. 　 So this morning I got it out from the gun cabinet and clean it up, oiled and before you know it the smell in the den was rich with gun cleaning solvent and wipe clothes. I ended up cleaning all the guns and can mark it off my Spring cleaning do list. I brought the rife over to the son in law's house with a story that his wife had given me the OK to store a gun there for a couple of weeks. I brought the gun over and he didn’t think twice about it and we did some cake and then I gave him fat little card. He opened the card to find two keys for the case and I told him what was inside was actually his present. He open it up looked at me and shook my hand and just said thank you. Just the response I was looking for, he then picked it up and checked the rifle out and shook my hand again. 　 Back at the cabin after doing a little car shopping at Reed’s Auto Place. Am looking to trade off the wife’s Jeep for something else. Getting to point where it needs more work then I want to put it in so I am looking to dump it off in a trade, which surprising the wife approved. But then again for the last month she has been driving the Tahoe while I have been laid up and is getting a little too comfortable in it if you know what I mean. So I get back to the cabin and find out that one of my sons had been by and cleaned all the carpet while I was out with the wife at the son in laws. I did have to put furniture back but I got clean carpets. So I am sitting in the den with the smell of gun oil still hanging in the air and Duncan lying at my feet under the desk. Got a lot done today compared to a typical day the last few months. Am feeling pretty good as a matter of fact. I also am feeling good about making the son in law's day and mine also. Lots of stuff that I no longer need but have here. Hate to see it just given away, I like the idea of doing some gifting and filling some other relative's fishing boxes with the forty some years of fishing tackle that I have in the Puddle Humper and in storage. I always buy to much and you know that as I give fishing tackle away then I will have open slots in my tackle boxes. No sense in telling the wife I will probable be in need for some new fishing tackle here at Lake Iwanttobethere

SUN IS GOING down here at Hidden Bay here on Lake Iwanttobethere. I have some Johnny Cash playing softly in the background just loudly enough that I can barely hear it over the sound of the keys on the keyboard as I write this. I pause and listen some. I have my Pandora radio playing Neal Young’s station and Johnny Cash songs slide into the rotation from time to time. Duncan is under the desk his head resting on my foot and a paw on the other foot. I reach down and pet him behind the ears letting him know I know that he is there. Sometimes he will give me that little sigh of his as he blows air out and continues to sleep knowing I am close. 　 I miss the old dogs but I am o so happy that Duncan is here, I really do need a buddy and having him always close by is not a bother at all, even if he is a bed hog he is my bed hog. Soon we will I hope be taking more rides together as the weather gets warmer and I get to feel better. Seems I am always telling him he can not go with me when I go to the store or make the trips into the big city for all the doctor appointments. If I could I bet he would make a lot of new friends. He is busy this week as the city dogs are here while the daughter is on vacation. He has been a good boy not picking on the old lab and not terrorizing the young female Austrian shepherd too much. I wish I could say that for the shepherd as she has been chasing the tom cats every chance she gets. That is until the big tom had enough of her this morning and came down stairs sat in front of the shepherd and raised his right paw and flashed his claws and gave the dog a cat warning. City dog is smart enough to sit back and took the warning. 　 Going to cool down some but then it will warm up, pretty atypical for this time of the winter. Neighbor Chuck is looking forward to the warm up as he has to do brakes on his truck and replace the exhaust. I am looking for a warn day also has I have not gotten around to taking the door panel off the Tahoe passenger side and fixing what I think is a broken or lose linkage that controls the door handle. Lately when I have been driving with a passenger I either have to play chauffeur and come around and open the door for them or just have them sit in the back seat and play driving Miss Daisy. Funny thing there is the door handle broke when my mother in law was riding with me. Not the first time as she has a habit of slamming seat belts in the door jams and screwing them up. Duncan took the city dogs with him down to greet Mark the mailman for the mail today, Mark had some second thoughts when all three dogs come down to greet him. Duncan brought the mail up and besides the bills he brought me a couple of fishing sale catalogs, some light reading for later. I did plant some onion seeds today inside, they won’t go into the garden till the middle of summer and I hope the ones I planted last summer will winter over and give me a head start on this year's crops of onions. Should be time here to start planting tobacco but I am debating what or if I will plant this season. Winter marches on, snow is not going down any in the yard and I have not seen a deer in several weeks. Crows are scarce to and not a single bunny track. A week of sunshine I am sure would sure change everything but March is coming and with it snow should fall to bury everything again. The wife has agreed to do some fishing with me so I do have some tackle shopping to do, she will need a reel as hers are long gone, either broken or lost by the kids as they used them or borrowed them out to their friends to go fishing. It will have to be a spincast as no way will I offer her the chance to destroy one of my bait caster and she can’t figure out a spinning reel. Never a dull moment here at Lake Iwanttobethere

THREE IN THE morning and the dogs are up, well so am I. Guess they decided that something must be going on if I am still up so they are in the den here scattered around at my feet. Got a heater on pointing at my desk but most of the heat is being blocked by the dogs. I am about done for now watching streaming TV so I thought I would write a little. With any luck I will bore myself and go to sleep. Usually when I write these kind of stories they just become random thoughts as I don’t really have a story to tell but just end up writing abut things I have noticed in the past few days. Having spent a lot of time in waiting rooms these past few weeks I am starting to notice the same people and I am striking up some conversations. There is an old guy today who was telling me some of his stories about living in Alaska, I had to go get my treatment but I will be looking forward to seeing him again and see if I can prod some stories from him. I also notice that the older ladies who come stake out their space. Most of the chairs are set in threes and the older ladies come in and sit in the center chair, rest their purse on the right chair and their coat on the left. And then just glare at you when you stand looking for a place to sit. Younger people sit anywhere and have their lap tops in their laps and ignore everyone around them. This evening I did go into town and did a little shopping, was feeling a little off but I needed to pick up a few things so I went out. I stopped at the local Al-mart store and I pushed a cart around taking my time. I must admit I spent a little time in sporting goods not because I needed anything but I was just looking. It was there that I heard a lady calling out Marco and from around the store I heard the answer of Polo. Not doing anything I started looking for Polo but each time the lady called out Marco, the Pole answer was in a difference voice and it came from a different section. A few minutes in I finally asked the lady about it and she told me she really does have a son named Marco but people keep calling Polo back to her. I just shrugged my shoulders and walked away with a smile on my face. Back in the waiting room, I did have a chuckle the other day that I forgot to mention. I sat next to a guy who told me that he has a plan for when he dies. Not really knowing how to react I just nodded my head and he took that as a go ahead and he told me that his wife is planning on cremating him, his plan is to eat a lot of unpopped popcorn kernels so he will go out with a bang! I chuckled and took an instant liking to him, I see him on Thursdays. I told him my plan is to have a bunch of young guys carry my casket with instructions to run me out to the hearse when the ceremony is all done. You see I want to just run one last time! He approved and we toasted each other with our apple juice in our paper cups. 　 Boat Show this week and I was kind of planning to go but now my fishing granddaughter is on vacation and gone. I may or may not go now as I really don’t have anything to buy and was just going to see the granddaughter fish the trout tank and watch the squirrel water ski. Who knows maybe I will get Elmer to go, we both walk at about the same speed now here at Lake Iwanttobethere

For a change some good news! After the first week of treatment I improved some of my blood work tests and got approved for monetary help for the very expensive drug.treatment. In a few days I am going to go on a aggressive blood treatment where they are going to in four sessions withdraw all my blood and spin out the plasma, replace the plasma then put it back in. This should remove all the current floating loose chains in my blood and give me a quick shot of help for my kidneys. Will also during this time continue my Chemo but I should feel better. If I was a car it would be like getting an oil change and trannie flush. Steroids today so I will be up all night, doing a lot of reading and cruising the web..

RAN OUT OF cough drops so I took a ride into town, actually I was looking for an excuse to just get out. My first stop was at the pharmacy where I found nothing but empty shelves where the cough drops should be hanging. I talked with both of the owners Dave and Dave and they told me cough drops along with nose spray would be coming in sometime this weekend by dogsled. I guess everyone in town really does have a cold. Next stop was to see Big Earl at the General Store and his convince racks were also empty but he did have a couple of packs behind the counter that were not my brand so I passed on his offer of them. On a whim I went over to the Close Enough Store and there I found my brand and I bought a couple of bags and then turned around and bought one more just in case. 　 My travels took me past the Lake Iwanttobethere Laundromat which I see had a sign in the window stating that they had just expanded. A couple of the FELLOWS own the Laundromat so I was curious to see what they had done. I walked in and Tiny wearing his tool belt greeted me and I walked around to where Gary was just finishing up installing a couple of new washing machines. We talked some and Gary was bragging how now they were up to twenty washing machines and I notice they had not added any dryers. "Gary" I said "When you add washers don’t you have to add more dryers?" Gary nodded his head yes and said "Tiny show Bobby our new dryer bay" I followed to what I thought was the back door and we went outside. Tiny doing his best "Price is Right model wave" showed me about 300’ of clothes line hanging between the two neighboring buildings. "Drying is free but you have to rent the clothes pins." Tiny said. 　 I made my way back to the Tahoe and as I passed Gary I told him he should hang a sign that they were now offering totally "Organic Air "Drying" tourist should really eat that up. Gary nodded his head in agreement and as I went out the door he was talking to Tiny about making a sign. Next stop was the Lodge and I drove past the Fish Market I got a glimpse of a familiar face ducking around the corner of the building. I was in no hurry so I went out of my way and turned left instead of right and spotted Leechlake just getting into his truck with a suspicious looking white paper covered bundle. I could not resist so I honked my horn and gave Leechlake a tip of my cap. Nothing going on at the Lodge so I just checked my mail and left before someone could cough on me. I don’t want my strain to mix with another and create a supper cold. Back at home I took my time walking to the cabin as the sidewalk was ice covered but more snow is in the forecast so I am not going to do anything about it just now. I was greeted at the door by my private duty nurse Duncan. He is getting to be a good nurse as last night when I tried to sleep he kept coming in and waking me up every fifteen minutes just like a real nurse. He would jump in bed and put his paw on my chest and I would open my eyes and we would look at each other. He would stay that way till I told him I am fine then would jump off to continue his rounds here at Lake Iwanttobethere 105 days

JANUARY FIRST 2016 where did 2015 go? Last night we had the gala New Years Eve Ball at the Lodge. The membership just calls it a party but the Woman’s Auxiliary makes big things out of everything so it has to be referred to as a Ball. I spent the evening looking for Cinderella to appear but she must have missed her ride. I spent most of the evening sitting at the table by the fireplace along with all the other husbands that had colds but had to come to the Ball. We figured we were safe being by ourselves and not spreading our colds to others. Glenn mentioned that we had a pretty good chance that all of us had the same strain. We waved Dock Burriem over but he refused to come close, yelled at us he didn’t get to be old by being around sick people. 　 We had the good blue and red checker tablecloths out and every table had a one of them hurricane lamps with a lit candle inside. Christmas lights hung from the rafters and the fireplace had decorative burning logs a blazing. We could not just burn some maple in there we had to have fire logs that put out fancy colors, according to Doris. Our table was pretty much avoided by others, could be because of the boxes of tissues on the table and most of our drinks all had orange juice in them. Might also had to do with the yellow caution tape that Gus had strung around us. So most people kept their distance from us and just gave us waves or shouted HIYA. 　 I made it all the way through last winter without getting a real good hard-core cold but not this season. I am on day five so I hope I am on the way to healing. After my first screwdriver last night I spent the rest of the night just sipping on straight orange juice, If I wanted a buzz all I had to do was stand up fast. I can’t really tell you much about the gala Ball since I was confined to my seat but it looked like everyone was enjoying themselves. Pretty good turn out as we had a good view of the main door so we could see people coming and going. A lot of people just came in to say HIYA and then went on their way. I don’t think they left it is just there was free hay rides and we have enough ice on the lake that a few of the guys were down fishing in portables. The hay ride was pretty popular as they had a couple of wine flasks filled with blackberry wine that were passed around but someone had slipped in flask of blackberry brandy which had a more serious effect on some of the tee totters. MonsterMoose was there with his pup Finn and he attracted a crowd, not of young ladies like you would think but of fellow duck hunters. Legalmusky was there along with Leach and Leachlake, Lee and Nytelighter. Hope and Anyfish were dancing up a storm and Dotch was over on the couch talking old cars with Elmer. Wellesy and Vermillionfox were trading walleye spots. Big Earl was there of course along with my neighbor Chuck and his wife Sam. Tess was dancing with Hammering Hank and Skinny had his arm around some tall slender woman I have never seen before. Balloon drop went off without a hitch and I was home tucked away in bed before one. This morning I found my wife sitting in the kitchen with breakfast in front of her but she was not eating. I poured myself some juice and told her she must have had to much of the blackberry brandy, she blew her nose and looked at me over the top of her glasses and said "No, I think I have your cold!" Happy New Year from here at Lake Iwanttobethere

You can use the @mention aspect whenever you want someone to be notified about a post or let them know you are talking about them. Type the @ symbol type in a couple "lowercase" letters pause then once the names pop-up either select or keep typing in letters to narrow down the list until you get the @mention name you are looking for. You can play a game so members can see how it works. If you want to practice or If your name has been @mentioned below you should see it in your notifications (upper right) and you then have to @mention one or two members who haven't been mentioned inthe comments section below. Let's see how long we can keep this going. Anyone who duplicates a name that has already been @mentioned loses. This is the first group to be @mentioned to get the ball rolling: @Borch @Scott K @Corey Bechtold @Matt Johnson @mrklean @eyeguy 54 @Finns @IceHawk @MarkB @Cliff Wagenbach @Wayne Ek

When you are the father you take your little girl to the Memorial day parade....but in my case... This is what fathers do on Memorial day. Watch their baby girl playing a flute in the Marching band on Memorial day. That and remembering my father and grandfathers who fought n WW1 and the cold war defending our freedoms. And all the others who defended the liberty and way of life we enjoy today. Annabelle is in the front row with the flute closest to the camera. Have a great Memorial day and if you choose to take a second, honor a hero in your family, your neighborhood and your world.

To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone. Reba McEntire Our wish is to work out the tough bugs in your new Fishing Minnesota forum, there will always be some bugs and we want to have the ones that make it tough to sign-in worked out. Please use the Contact Us link at the bottom of the page if you cannot sign-in. We will help you. Some of that issue was operator error...mine. We are committed to moving ahead with the new forum because of the possibilities it offers users here, even with a few folks having a difficulty signing-in with the new forum software. There is no perpetual engine in the world. However, there are lots of eternal brakes. We are pleased that a vast majority have no issues and like the new forums and the potential it represents. More good things are coming and they will come in measured steps. We went with the new forums because of the ability to enhance your experience in steps if you want to do more than just read the forums. Check this forum out on mobile, really check it out thoroughly....it's pretty slick. You may 'want to do do more than look, if 'you can, show us the sharing person you are. Perhaps you share outdoor pursuits and passions. We want to see you doing what you love most. You will be richer in the end than a prince, if you are a friend. A friend we will always love is in the pic on the left. A kind and generous friend. I will end this with a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson: "Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seed that you plant"

Well ladies and gentleman, seeing as no one else has started their own blog and only one other person has updated their status here, I will kick it off. As most of you know we changed over to a new forum. What most of you don't know is that it is a radically different forum. Before we get ahead of ourselves, go ahead and enjoy the new, albeit slower forum (we're working on that). Once you get used to it, it will seem very similar to the old forum with a few interesting quirks. As 'you post good information' you may be pleasantly surprised that you are being noticed and people actually let you know they 'like your post'. Yes, there is a 'Like This' button in bottom right of your post. Note: you can't see it in your own post if you are logged in. You might also notice as more folks start to like your posts you develop a following that just keeps growing. That's because all one needs to do is click on your name and 'follow you' so they can see all of the great info you post. A nice benefit is that a lot of those folks who follow you will also see your posts with questions. Most are willing to share great info with you because they already know you are a generous soul because they are following you. Oh wait, there's more....but we will save that for another post. The new forums are plenty to digest for the time being. You can find a lot more on your own if you want.

Mississippi River, pool 5a Texas Rig; Pit Boss with the heaviest weight I could find ? the second (pictured) Bass will probably be the biggest I catch all year. Just under 3 lbs. As much as I don't care for Pike. I had to show this hog my buddy pulled in this day. Northern Pike, weighing just over 10 lbs - look at that dragon head!

At a time of year when the fishing is supposed to be easy(ier), I find myself struggling to find something that works. It could be the wind direction or lack of wind. It could the timing of pressure systems. It could simply be that I don't have any idea what I am doing! But then I look around and realize that it doesn't matter all that much whether I am catching anything. The sights this time of year are incredible. Some recent local pictures.

DUSK TWILIGHT, BLUE light, sunset they all appear at the same time here on Lake Iwanttobethere. Last night I was sitting on the deck when they arrived. Grand kids and parents had all gone home, school the next day for them and work for their parents. Some smoke was drifting up from the fire pit and I was down wind. Just enough to keep the skeeters away if there were any. The wife was letting me smoke a cigar but I had to wait till the kids were gone. She was inside washing dishes and putting away fixings from the BBQ. I sat on the swing and Duncan was perched up along side of me. I was watching what he was watching and I think he was watching what I was watching. 　 Son in law had tended the BBQ while the oldest son cooked on the fire pit. Ribs, burgers, polish and corn on the cob. Potatoes wrapped in tin foil and slit open to hide sweet onion and butter were turned and watched in the fire pit. Hot dogs speared on sticks and smores for desert along with carrot cake. Watermelon and a fruit bowl did not last long. Some of the kids went to the dock and fished a little, some small gills stole worms and made quick getaways. I made it down to the old bench where I used to spend time watching Barney fish from the dock and it brought back memories of the old dog. With everyone gone I sat on the deck and listen to sounds coming from across the lake. 　 Someone was mowing which is against the law here at Lake Iwanttobethere on weekends and holidays but with dusk arriving they too stopped and it was quiet unless you were listening for things.The sound of screen doors slamming shut could be heard and somewhere across the lake a lady was laughing loud and hard. Might have had one to many cocktails but she was pass the point of caring. There was also the sounds of missing, the redwing blackbirds had gone quiet and the sound of geese were faint. Frogs were heard and in the sky I watched along with Duncan as seagulls soared toward the lake only to reach the lake and rush back inshore. You could not hear their wing beats but they were working hard to get another ride before darkness arrived. 　 A couple of boats trolled pass the cabin and I waved and the passengers if they were looking in my direction waved back. Long lining daredevils I am guessing they passed by as they followed the weed line. I saw one guy get up and make a big deal of reeling in a fish then I could clearly hear him talking to his partner that he sure thought it was bigger then a hammer handle on the end of his line. It was brought into the pontoon and looked over, it still was a fish caught and then it was released with a splash back into the water and the lure slipped back overboard. Darkness fell and lights on cabins went out and cars and trucks started up. You could hear them as they drove by my place heading back towards blacktop and homes in the city. It was a holiday after all and people had to go back home and back to work in the morning. I sat on my swing and watched and listened to the lake go quiet, me and my cigar my dog and a few snap and pops form my fire here at Lake Iwanttobethere

GOOD NEWS, BAD news It has been a couple of weeks since I have written but things have not been quiet here at Lake Iwanttobethere. I have spent most of my time in bed and for some reason my laptop will let me read what is going on but not let me post. I have in my mind written at least a dozen stories but they did not get posted. So here is some of the topics I did kind of write about and I will now show in a very very brief format. 　 About a month ago I started feeling a heaviness in my left leg and about two weeks later on a Friday night the entire leg blew up and I was off to the hospital. Long story short I had developed a deep blood clot in my left thigh which kept be in the hospital for three days till I could adjust to a blood thinner. I will now be on a blood thinner for at least the next 90 days. It took me another week to find a pain killer that will let me tolerate the constant 24/7 pain from the clot. The pain feels like someone hit my thigh with a sledge hammer and it does not go away. Stairs are almost impossible to do by myself so add that to something caused by a side effect. 　 Good news is my kidney function has returned to almost normal and with it my blood pressure has returned as well as my heart beat has risen. This means the lightheadedness and dizzy spells have gone away ! Matter of fact I may even have to go back on pressure med to keep them in the normal range. My favorite fishing daughter has joined me as she had an mri done on her ankle and is now sporting a cast. The two of us now spent Friday nights together with our crutches and me with my walker having the wife wait on us. 　 Smelt season has come and gone and I never did get to make it down to the fry tent in the parking lot, although Elmer did bring me a foam plate of them which went down pretty easy. 　 Fishing season has of course started and I will no longer have a need for the countdown unless I start one for me and when I will wet a line. A couple of yeas ago my neighbor Chuck and his wife got rid of their horses and even though there was talk of adding some beef to the fenced in pasture nothing happen till now. No beef but Chuck is about halfway done putting in a three hole par there golf course. The trail has been widen from my place to his as he uses his lawn mower to ride the course and mow the fairways as he goes. I can of course use my mower to do the same thing once I can stand up and swing a club. Crazy weather the other ay as we hit 94 in the shade and then the thunderstorms came through dropping the temp 30 degrees in an hour. Today finds us in the fifties with a constant steady wind bending the trees. Not a good fishing day so I am not missing anything. Pain pills make me sleep a lot and I am OK with that, don’t hurt when I sleep and the next thing we are trying to cure is the tingle and numbness in my hands and feet. Makes it tuff to type and even holding a fork can be challenge. Holding on to the soap in the shower has been all but impossible. Told the wife to go to the General store and buy me some soap on the rope otherwise I am going to have to make my own! My to do list is usually about ten things long and if I get one thing done I am quite happy with myself. If I do three things I am doing to much and end up paying for it for a couple of days after. Today’s thing was to write a story to let you al know we are still here, still reading your stuff and hoping to read some good fish stories. This is the first time in forty years that I do not have rod sitting at the ready by the back door, feels really strange here at Lake Iwanttobethere

WHY DO WIFE'S have to change the location of furniture in the house come spring? Last night I went to go to bed and as usual I did not turn on the bedroom light. I put my hand up against the wall, took one step backwards and sat down on where the bed has been for twenty years, it was not there last night. I missed the bed by maybe six inches but planted myself firmly into the floor on my behind. Being very fall concern I fell as good as I could have hoped for. This of course brought up a heated conversation of just what a difference six inches can make. 　 Spring might actually show up here in the next few days as both Stormy Clearweather and Sunshine Ray are calling for sunshine and increased temperatures. I was outside for awhile yesterday as it looked good outside till you got out there and that north wind quickly changed your mind. The son in law was over and he unloaded that pallet of dirt bags that I bought and then restacked the frozen bags back on the pallet closer to the garden. Speaking of the son in law we should be seeing lot more of him this summer as the Mystery River bridge receiving funding for an up grade and the son in law is a steel worker. Looks like he will be working on the bridge till mid fall and is already talking about he and his crew will be having their own fishing contest during their lunch hours. 　 Duncan and I went outside and sat in the sunshine and counted bags as he unloaded the trailer and offered encouragement. Was the least I can do since I could not help and Duncan was more interested in laying on his back with his paws pointed skyward rolling in something that did not really smell all that good. Have not been writing much as I really have not had much to say. Been thinking a lot but sometimes thoughts just don’t travel well to the keyboard. On a long stretch of chemo here and side effects are catching up on me which means I have to make more adjustments. Getting old I’ll tell you and it is hard to keep up a good front and not get upset with those around me. Not there fault just the drugs talking. Good thing Duncan is usually close at hand as he seems he can never do no wrong so he does not give me a reason to yell at him. That and the fact that most of the time he is close at hand so I can reach down and tug an ear or pat his side. 　 Fishing countdown continues for you guys, under a month now. I am maybe looking at sometime in June but that is doubtful. Seems when I have a problem my answer is "I need to go fishing" don’t think I ever really had a bad day of fishing and time spent on the water is never wasted. Perhaps with this warmer weather arriving I will spend some time out on the deck and the sunshine and a warm breeze will give me a little better attitude. Heading to the Mayo end of the month so that is going to be a road trip. The lake for the month of May might be a little quiet as I don’t as of yet know if I have to stay down there. Hoping not I would rather be here on the shores of Lake Iwanttobethere ><> 29 <><

MERLE HAGGARD PASSED away the other the day and I can’t say I was really a fan but I have heard of him. Pretty sure we don’t have any of his music in the jukebox at the Lodge but I am also pretty sure we do have a couple of eight tracks of his music hidden away somewhere. Back in the seventies when my buddy Chuck and I drove all over Fish County in my ¾ Chevy pickup with the bed rack that carried the 12’ Jon Boat and the 7.5 hp Clinton outboard we would stop at resorts and his music always seemed to be playing. Of course that was back in the days where just about every lake had at least one resort and sometimes two. Nothing like today where if you asked where the resort was someone would point out a vacant spot along the shoreline and say that is where it used to be. 　 We both worked the night shift back then which left our days and afternoons open for fishing or hunting grouse or in the best of times we could do both on a fall afternoon. Always in search of new water we would drive down good looking grouse roads to find small lakes hidden out of sight and most of the time a small resort would be at the end of the road. Usually a ma and pa place ran by a retired couple of who catered to a few locals and some repeat customers. Long before GPS and overhead mapping we would look through our well worn and tattered plot book to try and figure out where we were. Wearing tee shirts and shorts and tennis that had seen better days me with my long red hair and Chuck with his blond hair we would get a few looks when we climbed down from the truck. We would have to past inspection by the resort's dog or dogs before heading to the resort screen door which almost always open into a dark small bar with a juke box playing either Country or Western music as that was the only kind of music played out there. 　 We would exchange HIYA’s with the owner and he would watch us from behind the bar as we sipped on a soda or a beer depending on where the sun was in the sky that day. We would go through that feeling out process as we tried to find out if there were bass in the lake and where were the big ones. If we were getting good information we would order the cheeseburger basket and I don’t think we were ever disappointed by the size of the burger or the crispy French fries. Before you know it we would be exchanging lakes and talking of the places we had explored. The owner would talk about meaning to get around to fishing such and such lake but he was always to busy working on his own place. That is how we learned that if we ever wanted to keep fishing never buy a resort. 　 Some lakes we didn’t fish but a lot of them we did. The Jon boat would come off the truck rack and the gas tank put inside. Clinton tighten onto the transom and the small trolling motor attached to the bow. We would push off and go try out the spots on the lake that were pointed out but we would also hit the spots where no one ever caught any fish, funny how sometimes we did pretty good in those dead spots. Keeping an eye on the clock we would fish till we ran out of time. A lot of days we barely made it back home to clean up and get to work on time. Some lakes we return to fish a second time, some lakes I still fish today. Most of them no longer have resorts or small bars with cheeseburger baskets. Lucky for us we still have the Lodge at Lake Iwanttobethere 　 　 　 ><> 35 <><

FIRST OFF I believe that nothing is impossible but a lot of things are highly improbable, Having made that statement I believe in ghosts. During my long stay in the hospital any kind of really good sleep was next to impossible to get. With the drugs I was taking I had more than a few wild dreams interrupted. Most dreams were quickly forgotten but one has hung with me now for more then a week, I was in my hospital bed and the room door was ajar. The bathroom door was open a crack with the light on. The sliver of light from the bathroom that fell into the room was just enough for the nurses and lab people to check on me, It was past two in the morning when I woke up. I didn't open my eyes all the way as I was expecting a nurse was going to be the reason I woke up. Instead I got the impression someone was in my room but I did not see anyone, I rolled on to my side and looked through the side rail of the bed to see my old dog Bud looking back at me. 　 White face and his sweet old tired eyes looked back at me and his tail was slowly waging with a purpose brushing the curtain that hangs from the ceiling in front of the door. I blinked my eyes trying to get them in focus. He stood looking at me like he had been there for awhile. Bud took a few steps closer to the bed and was in reach of my hand that I had stuck through the side rail, I heard him whine his familiar whine and he leaned forward to lick my hand, just once, I asked him if he wanted me to follow him but instead he turned away from the bed and walked to the curtain. He looked over his broad brown back and me and gave me a soft little ruff growl that sounded like a no. Then he walked into the curtain and was gone. The dream is the only one of many that I had, but it is the only one I remember, I think he was telling me that Bud and his brother Barney are not yet ready to show me their new hunting grounds. Was it a dream or was it Buds ghost checking on me, I want to think it was his ghost. Here at Lake Iwanttobethere anything can be possible.

THAT GUY, I am that guy! I went back to the hospital on Friday for my last plasma washing that went off without a hitch. Since my sessions were done they pulled out the chest tube, applied pressure and a bandage and I was allowed to leave. Ten minutes later I am at the emergency entrance waiting for my wife to bring the truck around and I reach down and find myself wet on my side. My pressure bandage had not held and I was bleeding, a lot of excitement there for a few minutes as I yelled for some help and several nurses came to bring me to the emergency room. I held my hand to my chest as blood poured out around my fingers and we got me to a room and some gloved up nurses. I ended up spending another day in the hospital as they had to give me a transfusion of two units of blood to get me good to go home again. This is the short version I don’t think I am going to write a long version of this story, but it was finally nice to get rather then receive blood for a change... Just saying I am that guy when this kind of stuff seems to happen.

Just got out of an unexpected hospital stay that was like the voyage of the uss minnow, instead of a four hour cruise it became four days. Had problems with very low heart rate and blood pressure and ended up having my blood chemistry go way out of whack, bunch of testing and I swear they removed enough blood to paint Duncan's house with if Duncan had a dog house. The bad part about this was that this was suppose to be my off week in my chemo cycle and I spent it in the hospital. I have a lot of reading to catch up to and a lot of sleep as no one ever went to a hospital to get ay rest. Thank you for everyone who is emailing me, I will touch base with all of you in the next few days, Bobby..

BACK IN THE day before radio I was told by my late grandfather that they would sit around the camp fire and tell stories of their parents or friends or once in a while the crazy uncle. Now I was pretty young then and I think we did have a radio but grandpa would just say that we didn’t. Grandpa was a story teller and he could spin a yarn or two, I wish I had listen to then better so I could retell them here. Most of them were about things I didn’t not have a clue about. Grandma and grandpa lived in a walk up apartment that had several flights of stairs before you got to the hallway that went down the length of a magazine warehouse. It was a great place to be a little kid as on the same floor as my grandparent's apartment was also where they stored magazine and paperback book racks. The racks were kept in cardboard boxes and the warehouse was like a giant tetris game. Here is where my brother and I built forts with sliding cardboard walls and secret doors. Thinking back we were like rats in a maze. 　 I don’t know why I am thinking about this now maybe because I am thinking that I should some how leave the story here for my own kids and grand kids to read about. Maybe grandpa had a pretty good idea there about turning the radio off and just telling stories. I remember he always seem to just wear a white tee shirt with suspenders and in his hand there would be a hand rolled cigarette that he would let the ash burn long before flicking it in a small glass ashtray. From time to time he would sip on a short beer in a short glass and he would cross his legs and he had on these huge leather work boots. I remember his clothes but not his face, just that he had stubble on it but I don’t think shaving was a real priority with him. Grandma was a mound of white hair and a house dress always brings cookies or rolls to the table where me and my brother would sit and listen to stories not really trying to remember them being more interested in the cookies and rolls. The apartment was huge and the dinning room was like a great room. On the wall hung a picture, well not a picture it was more like giant painting. It was bigger then I could spread my arms wide and even higher. It was a painting of huge trees in a woods and in the center was a mounted Mountie on horseback. I remember that because the rider was huge and many a story was told about the picture but I don’t remember. I think my grandpa or his pa had something to do with the picture and I wish I could remember, I bet it would have made good story to tell here at Lake Iwanttobethere

SO I WAS running this morning I had the song Sprit in the Sky by Norman Greebaum stuck in my head. It was warm out and I was running into a slight breeze, I am sure it was a breeze because I don’t think I can run that fast to make the air feel like it is moving past me. Other then the sound of a guitar in my ears it was quiet out, could not even hear the sound of my shoes slapping on the damp black asphalt. I was moving right along as the white painted strips on the road were going by quick under my feet. A puddle of water ahead and I just gave a little extra push and I sailed over the top dry to continue running on the other side. Shortcut ahead and I jumped the ditch and hit the grass avoiding a log and a couple of rocks and was back in rhythm again just running. 　 I felt good, no one else out and I was running, arms pumping as I came around the corner to the small hill that I know leads to a long path back home. Almost around the corner I get a stitch in my side but I run through it and then I am on cruise. Going down hill stretching it out feeling good, sucking in sweet tasting air and seeing the finish line just ahead. Not really a line just a short pine tree that I sprint to and as I pass I ease up and coast to a stop. Hands on knees I look back at where I came from and smile. Sure does feel good to have a good dream to wake up from. 　 I laid in bed and listen to the last few lines of Sprit in the Sky playing on the radio. Duncan was on his side laying next to my side and we looked at each other before I gave in first and patted him on the side. Put my feet on the floor and got out of bed slowly, these days it is a common practice as I don’t know how I am going to feel. A minute later and I declare this day to be a good day as I made my way to the bathroom and was not sore at all, put a smile on my face as I have a lot that needs to get done today. 　 Before I forget I open up the laptop and I wrote down a few lines about my dream, Been a long time since I have done any running especially running hard long and fast. Had to write it down before I forgot the feeling. So the day begins, I didn’t want to look at the thermometer but I kind of had to when I let Duncan outside. Minus 10 so I stood by the door and waiting for him, he was done with his business quickly. No sooner did I close the door then the phone rang, the first of several calls already this morning. The word was out, I have Girl Scout cookies. The fishing granddaughter is also a girl scout and last night I picked up a mess of cookies to bring back to the cabin here. Later today she is going to come over and we are going to make the round delivering. Some cookies were delivered last night and the word got out that I have cookies here so now the phone is ringing with offers to come to me to get their cookies. I don’t have a problem with that at all as I watch the sun get higher in the sky but the thermometer is taking its time going anywhere. I am not in inventory control but my rough count shows we have about three hundred boxes of cookies in the hallway here. I will be keeping an eye on the thin mints and peanut butter ones to make sure I get mine. Of course several of the orders are not boxes but cases of the cookies. Coffee pot is on and I expect it will be refilled several times during the day as friends and relatives stop by to get cookies and chat. Later this afternoon my daughter told me she will come by with the cookies for the guys at the RESORT and the Lodge here at Lake Iwanttobethere

SUPER BOWL SUNDAY has arrived and I am busy working on the short honey do list here at the cabin. Tomorrow I head down to the big city for my first treatment and I have no idea how that is going to work out so I am working on the do list. Weather is cooperating as it is forty-one out and things are melting. Have spent time with the ice chisel cleaning off the deck and I really should go into town and wash the Tahoe. It is about as dirty as I have seen it in a long time. Duncan has been with me most of the time as the last few weeks he has really been hanging around me a lot. In all the busy that has been going around I failed to write anything about his 60 month birthday! 　 Duncan should be in his prime now and he is still playing the part of a puppy when he wants attention. He has gone from the hiding behind me stage when someone comes over to the bark and stands bravely next to me stage to the now stand in front of me and the "I got this boss stage" when someone comes to the door. After inspecting everyone he will give the OK and let them come into the cabin but no one gets to sit right next to me on the couch but him. He also has gone from sleeping at the end of the bed to trying to take my pillow from me now. Of course the old dogs did the same thing and it is nice waking up and having those eyes of his looking right back into mine. I still miss Buddy and Barney every day but he, Duncan is doing his best to fill the void. Matter of fact I just moved the doggie stairs away from the bed that the old dogs used because Duncan pretty much just steps right into bed with just a little hop. 　 I put together a seed order and that should be arriving here soon, will be time to start some in the trays. Going to expand my gutter garden system this year and I think do away with planting tatters in the ground. I am going to try growing some tatters in containers though. The space for tatters will now house a watermelon patch as I am going to erect a low ground greenhouse/hothouse and once again try and grow me some watermelon. Some tobacco will be planted but I think only the type used for cigar leaf. I am not going to plant many but just enough to give me another different age leaf for wrappers. My leaf that I am curing is still not ready to smoke but I keep rotating and airing it out every couple of weeks. I am hoping by mid summer I will start rolling cigars and will give them to my neighbor Elmer to try and see what color his face turns. Summer fishing is in the air, don’t know if I will be able to go out by myself or if I am going to have to plan my fishing days with a partner. I may have to start taking the wife fishing with me I kind of asked her and she didn’t say yes but she didn’t say no either. My fishing calendar has some days marked off but they are all in pencil so they can be changed. The daughter will go for sure but she only has so many days off in the summer and she does have things she wants to do. Depending on how I feel I may be making a lot of short trips or I just might be watching a bobber off the dock a lot. I don’t think I am going to get the old rowboat that cleaning and coat of paint like I had planned. But then again I just might feel good enough to stick to my list. This is after all Lake Iwanttobethere and things happen here that don’t happen anywhere else. Like maybe Denver winning the Super Bowl! Enjoy the game I will here at Lake Iwanttobethere. 96 <><

TIMES HAVE CHANGED a lot from going to sitting at DOC Burriem’s store front office to the big city. Back in the day You would enter into the office after walking around the rope that DOC would tie his car to the old hitching post. The rope was an old habit of DOC’s that he had from when he had his horse and buggy. You would go inside and find yourself a seat either on the tattered leather couch or the oak chairs that were rescued from the town’s library when it was remodeled. DOC would come out and ask who was next and you waited your turn unless you were bleeding to much and it bothered the other patients. A collection of tattered Field and Streams or Outdoor Life magazines would be on the coffee table and maybe a Fish and Fur if no one had taken it home. An air pot with luke warm water and some packets of freeze dried coffee with a short stack of paper cups were on a table, but no one ever used them. 　 Now the last few days here in the big city I have been in and out of a few waiting rooms. Big screen TV’s are the norm and two kinds of coffee and tea are common. I had a test this morning where the waiting room had fresh baked cookies! Yesterday I had a PET done which is a Positron Emission Tomagraphy. I went to a city clinic and was escorted through the building and out the back exit. I could not recall anything I said in registration that would have gotten me kicked out but as I left the building I stood in front of a big trailer and the PET machine. The thing was mobile and as I talked to the tech he told me it cost three million dollars, now that is an expensive RV. I spent forty minutes in a tube and the wife watched the whole thing, her being a nurse she thought it was great entertainment and later told me she should have brought popcorn. 　 This morning I had what I hope is the last test for awhile, a bone marrow biopsy. It was not that bad at all, but then again it might be because I had a DOC who does them all the time and I will always take experience when it comes to drilling a hole in my hip. Now a few hours later as I sit back at home in my big easy chair I just feel like I was on the receiving end of a good hip check with no pads. Monday I start treatment as all of the tests were to set up baselines and will be used to determine what drugs will be used. When it was all said and done the Lab tech told me I had done good and she told me a little story about an old guy who was 89 and still raised beef, he was there for a bone biopsy. He was a wiry guy who jumped right up on the table and when they were done with the procure she asked him how the pain was, he told her "Compared to being kicked by a two ton bull it was not all that bad." 　 So what I have learned these past few weeks is that everyone is different and don’t listen to much to how bad things can be but it is not that bad an idea to listen to how good things will be, I want to thank the people who have reached out to me and a big thanks to a few of you that have gone through what I am about to start out on and have offered me your support. Stories from the Lake might be a little different for awhile as I am looking at things a little differently but I will sure try and keep the fishing reports coming from Lake Iwanttobethere

HIGH NOON HERE at the cabin hidden on Hidden Bay here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Some sun is shinning in the big windows here and no sooner do I move the chair to face the window then it disappears behind a cloud. It has done that three times to me so far but I will keep moving the chair because for that brief moment the sun feels good. Home alone as the wife went to town, just me and Duncan, chilling. The wife actually had to go to town and buy some more box tissue somehow I have used up all that we had here. In town no one is shaking hands and everyone is keeping an arms length distance away from each other. The cold that has been going around is a stubborn one as it hangs on for weeks. I know that I am not the only one as I have been on the phone talking with family and friends and everyone seems to have it or knows someone who does. I think the long fall and the sudden winter caught us all of guard. 　 Back here in my den I have been blowing my nose it seems like every five minutes. The wadded up tissue is then sent flying in the direction of the waste can in the corner. The daughter put up one of the little garbage can basketball nets and I am getting pretty good at bouncing it off the desk to the file cabinet to the backboard then in. Last night the wife made me a nice steak dinner with all the fixings, had a few bites then just sat and looked at it, no appetite. Of course it did not stop her from eating it. 　 Few more days and January is out of the way. Unless something happens cold wise I think we are in pretty good shape. Yesterday it did snow for awhile but then it warmed to the point where the snow became light rain. Over night everything froze and Duncan was running across the crusted snow on his morning rounds. Sometime today I will have to get out and knock icicles off the eves. Got some good ones hanging and I don’t want then to be falling by themselves when Duncan is underneath. Fishing has been slow from what I have heard. Not the best ice to start with and now we have gotten rain a few times so some slush is forming. Guys at the RESORT are doing OK but then again they know where there are a couple of brush piles are and the house is just a short walk away from the shore. Boat show will be coming in just a few short weeks and I think I am going to take the fishing granddaughter to see it. I don’t have much interest but it would be her first one and I think she would enjoy seeing all the goodies. There is also that trout tank that travels with the shows and I would give her a fair chance of catching one. Sun has reappeared and I pushed my chair back from the desk and caught some rays. I am sure looking forward to getting out on the deck and sitting on the swing and getting some serious nap time in. I can almost hear the buzz of bees and honking of geese overhead. My day dream was interrupted by the wife coming through the back door with my tissue here at Lake Iwanttobethere

IN FROM SHOVELING snow. Have been out three times so far today not that there is a lot of snow to shovel it is just that I get tired quick and for some reason the shovel has gotten heavier. I left the keys to the shovel taped to the handle but it seems no one else in the cabin knows how to start it! 　 Almost forty out and with the warm weather the snow on the roof is melting and dripping onto the deck. If we had some sunshine it would be melting and coming off the eves like it was raining. I did have this idea of throwing deicer all over the place but my bag is in the back of the Tahoe and the wife took the Tahoe to town. It was a good idea though. 　 Watched some football yesterday, one good game and one blow out. Neighbor Chuck was trying to get me to go ice fishing again but I decided watching the games here at the cabin was a better option. Saturday Chuck was gone all day as his son is on the diving and swim team. They had the big meet and Chuck sat at pool side for almost eleven hours. He said he had the hardest time not tossing a bobber he had in his pocket into the water. 　 My winter cold is still hanging on, I think it is going to make it till spring. Just when I figure I got it licked some new symptom appears and goes to the front of the line. Yesterday it was sneezing. Being a big guy I don’t mess around when I sneeze. I figure do it once and do it right. Yesterday I sneezed four times in a row and just about knocked myself out. Number four kind of got away from me and I banged my head against the back of my chair. Felt like I was on one of them four tickets rides at the county fair. Even Duncan who was in the den at the time kind of cocked his head to the side and then just rolled his eyes at me before leaving. 　 Speaking of Duncan his birthday is a short week a way. February first will be his 60th month birthday and he will have to share it with the daughter’s lab Buster and one of my grand kids. I have to go to the big city for a late afternoon visit but when I get back we are going to have a birthday party. The granddaughter is on charge so I don’t have a clue what it is going to evolve but I have been promised there with be ice cream, and cherries! We will also be celebrating Elmers birthday, he forgot when it is, sometime in the spring he thinks so when ever someone has a birthday this time of the year he just adds his name to the hat. I tell him he should be like me and just celebrate every month but he says I already have that distinction here at Lake Iwanttobethere 105 Days

SITTING IN THE den here at the cabin on the hidden bay of Lake Iwanttobethere. Was just kind of kicking back and relaxing in my chair at the desk. Had my feet up on an open drawer and I was looking out the big windows at a overcast sky. I could just make out the yellow globe of the sun filtered by the gray clouds. I have some Glen Frey music playing softly in the background, forgot how much I like his music. Was already in town this morning, running a few errands. Have been home the past several days not doing much, mostly spending my time on the phone. I would talk on a phone till it went dead and then I would end the call and put the phone in the cradle to charge and the phone would ring again and I would have to find a phone with a charged battery. 　 I think the cold weather has broke, at least for the next week. Sunshine Ray is forecasting a couple of thirty degrees days in our future. I know the granddaughter is looking forward to finally getting in some cross country skiing. She signed up for a Sunday class and it has been canceled the last three Sundays because it has been too cold. We have gotten some light snow here a couple of times in the past few days and I have not been up to shoveling with he cold and my cold. So the wife has been driving over the new snow compacting it and now I have some ice spots out there. Had to go into town for some ice melt as I was out. 　 Big Earl greeted me at the door and we talked a little longer then we usually do. I went inside to find a huge even for Big Earl display of light bulbs. Sign said "When there gone, there gone" and stacked high were boxes of the 25,40, 60 watt bulbs. I saw a couple of people pushing carts with several boxes of light bulbs in them, I thought about it but then I had trouble remembering the last time I even changed a light bulb and took a pass on the sale. Was thinking maybe I should stop off at the car wash but the line was stretched out into the street so I drove on by. My white Tahoe is a winter shade of white, That kind of gray white which is a combination of snow/salt and highway grime. You can’t walk close to it with out some of it rubbing off on your coat or pants. 　 Here at the cabin it is thirty out, a few nights ago it was minus 20 but the thirty does not feel warm like it should. I think it is because I still have a cold hanging on and I just can’t get warm unless I am sitting on top of a stove. It feels like a fall thirty instead of a spring thirty. I will go fishing in spring thirty but thirty in the fall seems awful cold. A spring thirty if the sun is out is short weather. Of course I did get a haircut yesterday and now I seem to be able to feel drafts better maybe that is why I am cold. It is however my birthday today, Yup I am 752 months old and we celebrated early last night as the daughter came over with all the fixings needed to make banana splits. Well almost everything as somehow she managed to forget cherries, I mean really how can you celebrate your 752nd birthday with out a cherry on top. All the more reason we are going to have banana splits again tonight, I bought a jar of cherries at Big Earls this morning here at Lake Iwanttobethere

SITTING IN BOOTH number one here at the RESORT this afternoon. Ample sunshine is coming through the big windows and the pot belly stove is more red then black. Vic likes to keep a good fire going and on a day like today it is welcomed. My neighbor Chuck called me last night and said he was heading to the RESORT this morning to do some fishing. He had heard that Dock Burriem and Vic were catching crappies and even Marv had managed to catch a few. I took a look at the thermometer hanging on the wall and it said it was already minus ten out and I had some doubts about going fishing in the morning. Chuck sealed the deal by saying he would drive and he would make sure the truck was warm when he picked me up. I gave in and said OK 　 I climbed into the truck and tossed my go bag in the back seat. Chuck does not have heated seats but the blower was blasting hot air into my face. I had to crack the window open some so I could breathe. We rolled down the driveway on square tires, I didn’t ask how cold it was as I didn’t really want to know. The square tires on the truck were a good giveaway that it was colder than I would like to be outside in. A couple of days ago the RESORT got another seven inches of snow and when we got to make the turn to the RESORT you could see where Hammering Hank had been plowing and we had snow banks. We drove in and parked and I grabbed my go bag as Chuck plugged the truck into a waiting extension cord, another sign it was colder then I wanted it to be. 　 Vic and Marv were already out in the ice house and DOCK was just inside making some breakfast. He had been talking back and forth with the guys in the shack as they had their two way radios with them and were about ready to come back in. Chuck talked with Vic who told him he better bring some wood out as the little stove is eating it up this morning. A couple of milk crates were loaded with kindling and placed on the plastic sled and after a call to Vic we told him we were headed out. When we arrived they came out and we went in. First thing I noticed is they had ran out of wood and the fire was just a couple of coals. Chuck brought the wood crates in and Vic gave us a wave as he pulled the empty plastic sled down the beaten snow path back to the RESORT. 　 It was cold but the little shack heats up quickly and soon we had bibs unzipped and the coffee pot was hot enough resting on the top of the stove that you had to put a glove on to move it. We checked minnows dangling on lines from short rods and soon I was down two bucks in cribbage. "Now isn’t this better than sitting at home watching football" Chuck said to me as he stared down at his minnow twitching in the cold water. That is when it dawned on me, "The wife put you up to taking me fishing, didn’t she" Chuck not looking me in the eye just nodded his head some. "OK, what did she bribe you with?" Chuck mumbled something about apple pie. I was just ready to say something when my float took a dive and I jerked out in defense and felt a pull. I had some weight on my line and I was thinking to myself "Where does she keep coming up with these apple pies" here at Lake Iwanttobethere 113 days

MAKING ICE HERE at Lake Iwanttobethere. Got pretty cold here last night at least colder then what it has been this fall. Winter is still officially a few more weeks away but as far as I am concern as soon as we start making ice we are in winter. When I let the dogs out this morning I saw that the deck was covered in frost, dogs took off running and ended up sliding off the end of the deck. I put the light jacket back on the clothes hook and took out the heavier one next to it. I walked around the yard as the dogs did their thing inspecting as I went. For a Saturday morning it was quiet, I went down to the dock and looked out over the lake. Could hear a crow squawking and I searched the sky looking for it. No clouds in the sky and I had to cover my eyes with my hand to block out the bright sunlight. 　 The old wood boat rests on the shore flipped upside down. I lightly kick at it a little to see if it was frozen to the ground or not. Talking with my neighbor Chuck he has offered to come over with the tractor and pick up the old boat and bring it up to the wood shop. I had it in the back of my mind that maybe this winter I would clean the old boat up and give it a couple of coats of paint come spring. Daughter will be picking up her dogs this afternoon but till then I have them here. The old lab walks at my side as we both move a little slower these days. The Austrian Shepherd is a ball of energy as she is off running with Duncan. The past several days have been like a doggie play date for him. 　 This morning over breakfast I asked the wife how shopping on Black Friday was. That is all I had to say as I buttered my toast and put some home made apple jelly on. The wife started ticking off who she bought presents for and where she went. I asked her if she noticed anything different this year then last and she told me "The lack of cars" Drinking some of my juice I said "How so?" I think my mother noticed it first, she said. There were hardy any cars in the parking lots. It seems everyone in town now drives a big pickup or an SUV shopping. Conversation then turned to winter is almost here and everyone has four wheel drive, could be that gas is now under two bucks at the Gas N Go so the big trucks can come back out and play. The wife nodded her head in agreement but how do I explain Mrs. Gervivs with her walker trying to climb up into her son’s monster truck? And she was driving.. I didn’t have an answer for that other then the fact that some people with big trucks enjoy parking up on the curb. During the winter here there is always someone who has to park their truck on top of a snow bank. With the dogs back inside and all in the kitchen, the wife is baking. I headed to the den and sat back in my sun heated chair. As winter grows closer the sun is lower and now I have to tilt my head some to keep the sun light out of my eyes as I type. A few days short of a month before Christmas and it is kind of a quiet time here at the lake. Normally we would have snow on the ground and I would be shoveling and looking for things buried under it. Not this year and Sunshine Ray’s forecast is calling for no real snow and above average temperatures for the next week. It is cold enough at night to make ice so winter is still coming, he is just sneaking in this year here at Lake Iwanttobethere

SNOW CHANGES EVERYTHING come deer hunting. Thursday night into Friday morning snow fell here at camp. I would say there was about six inches on the Hotel’s porch railing when I went to walk out to the swamp stand. Almost didn’t make it off the steps as there was some ice underneath the snow but I had a hand on a railing when one foot slipped out from under me. I went back in the Hotel and told Elmer to watch his step when he comes out then set off to the swamp stand. By ten I had not seen anything and the wind was up and the sun was breaking through the clouds. Snow was melting on the branches and I could hear and see dripping water falling on my stand. The family of gray squirrels came through I am guessing around nine or so. Not just passing through like I thought, they live around here somewhere. They work their way across my line of vision leap froging in front of one another, for some reason they reminded of clowns coming out of a VW at the circus. Only now with the snow on the ground they are quiet, as the leaves are now wet and buried. 　 By ten thirty I am ready to head back to the Hotel and I get out of the stand and work my way back slow like. In my footprints I find a set of hoof prints waking in my steps. I stop and look around where the tracks head off the trail and into the woods. I make a note that I better keep a better eye out on the trail. Seeing some deer tracks always helps the sprits, lets me know that I am not alone. I return to the Hotel and find the steps shoveled off, and Elmer’s tracks heading toward the stand of cedars. I get some coffee and some cookies and go back out and sit on the rocking chair and wait for Elmer to get back. 　 Just after dark the first set of headlights appear in the darkness coming from the gravel road. I am sitting in the rocking chair and I watch as the convoy of white pickup trucks lead by Big Earl in his Suburban with the plow down make their way into the clearing. They look like a UN peacekeeping group until they all step out in their blaze orange. The first Friday of deer camp which happens to be the second weekend calls for us all to drive over to Maggie’s for the all you can eat spaghetti dinner. After gear is all stowed away and everyone is caught up we all pile into my Tahoe and Big Earls Suburban. With all the extra weight of the guys I have no problem making it out on the now plowed trail. 　 We drive over to Dave Maggots resort where he puts on a big feed for the local hunters. For the longest time no one would really eat there as he called the place "Maggots" then he renamed the place after his dog Maggie and business picked up. We still call the place Maggots and enjoy telling the younger guys in our hunting group to watch out for the chucks of mystery meat that is in the spaghetti sauce. Speaking of younger guys we do have a new guy hunting this weekend, Chucks son in law Scott has joined the group and will be having a try out this weekend. Should be an interesting weekend as Chuck told him to make sure he brings up a coffee can for the stand. Big Earl always brings up broken bags of charcoal to the Hotel for burning out at the stands when it gets cold. Every stand has a metal coffee can with a couple of holes punched in the bottom. You bring out some self lighting charcoal in a bag, put it in the can and you have a nice toasty little heat source. Scott brought out a plastic coffee can so we will have to see how that works out here at Lake Iwanttobethere Posted from Maggots I mean Maggie’s Resort in the heart of Lake Iwanttobethere deer hunting country

One tactic this time of year that tends to excel in larger rivers and lakes is trolling leadcore line for walleyes. Basic tackle is a large capacity level wind reel and a 7-9' medium action trolling rod. I recommend a trolling rod as the taper is made to troll nonstretch lines like leadcore or superbraids. A line counter reel can be very helpful to replicate your presentation when targeting suspended fish but leadcore line is colored every 30' and you can get by with letting out line by how many colors you have out as well. Leadcore line is a dacron sheath around a fine lead filament and the additional weight of the filament is what causes the line to sink. A basic rule to follow is 5 feet of depth for each color you have in the water when travelling at 2 mph. In most lakes and rivers, 4-6 colors of leadcore will suffice with 6 getting you to the 30' plus range depndeing on your presentation and trolling speed. Leadcore is speed dependent so slowing down will get you slightly deeper and speeding up will raise your presentation slightly due to the water resistance against the line. This scenario is also true in rivers where current may cause the need to let out additional line to get your baits in the strike zone. For most presentations 27# leadcore is sufficient to cross over between walleyes and salmon fishing and there is really a negligible difference between 18# and 36# leadcore as far as sink rate. A mono leader of 10# line between the leadcore and the bait to be presented is the next addition to the arsenal. To attach the leader you will need to push the dacron sheath down to exspose 6-8" of the lead filament, cut the filament off and tie the mono leader to the dacron sheath. A double uni knot or a nail knot work nicely and I have even seen guys use back to back clinch knots. Leader lengths can vary from 10-50' depending on the lures used. The important thing to note is if you are going to troll diving crankbaits like slamo hornets or shad raps you will need to know the dive depth for that particular lure with the amount of mono leader that you have on as the baits will dive an additional few feet deeper then what the leadcore is achieving. So for instance, I have three colors of leadcore out and a 50' leader with a #5 shad rap. I know the leadcore will get me down 15' and that a #5 shad rap will reach an additional 8' on 50' of 10# mono for a total depth of 23'. When working with spinner rigs or stick baits your rigs will generally run just 2-3 feet deeper then the leadcore and it may take a bit of experimenting to get your baits right in the zone that you want to attack. This tactic can be particularly deadly on lakes with thermoclines and where suspended forage like whitefish or tullibees are present and allows you to target fish suspended out over the basin or sitting just above the thermocline that you would not normally be able to reach with just standard diving baits. Tightlines and good luck on the water! Tunrevir~

In my last entry I talked about changing up the retrieves and adding pauses to trigger neutral fish in cooler water. Today I am going to talk about speeding up the cadence to trigger bites. As previously mentioned, many of us fall into the same retrieve we have always used when working crank baits because we are creatures of habit and will try to use patterns that have worked for us in the past. Water temps at the surface are in the mid seventies at this time and this is a great time to begin using pulling and snapping retrieves and ramping up the speed to trigger reaction strikes from fish. This technique involves using lipless rattle baits, jigging raps and rippin raps and even spoons, and this can be a killer way to work spinner baits for walleyes! A pulling retrieve involves casting the bait out and letting it fall to the bottom with the rod pointed at roughly 2 o clock. When the lure touches down you make a slow sweeping pull to the 11 o clock position moving the bait up in a darting forward action. lower the rod tip back to 2 o clock and let the bait fall close to the bottom and repeat the 2-11 o clock drag keeping the lure bounding along but not quite touching bottom. Often as the lure begins to speed up, or just as you start to sweep the rod you will feel the fish hit. Think of this pulling retrieve like a gentle hopping of the lure from within inches of the bottom to roughly 2-3' above the bottom on the sweep. It takes a bit of practice to keep the lure riding just above the bottom as it hip hops along. I like to work this type of retrieve with either a 7' medium action rod and a high speed reel spooled with braided line so I can stay in contact with the lure and sweep up slack line quickly. Most often I use a 7' spinning rod paired with a shimano symetre reel spooled up with 15-20# braid or when working heavier baits a 7' rod with an Abu Garcia C4 reel spooled with 50# braid. I like to tie direct to the lure with the braid most of the time which gives me better feel of what the lure is doing and if it has fouled with weeds or debris. You can add a flourocarbon leader in clearer bodies of water for a bit stealthier approach. Since this is a quicker cadence and retrieve fish often are reacting to the fleeing bait and it does not give them time to inspect the lure or shy away from the line. I like to use this technique on large sand flats near standing weedlines and have had success using this method on large flats 20' deep. Try a pulling retrieve with some lipless rattle baits, jigging raps or spoons and spinners the next time you are out, you may well be surprised by the number of fish you catch! Next week I will talk about a ripping retrieve for crankbaits. Tightlines! Tunrevir~

Well a couple weeks into the season and the water temps are coming up into the 65 degree range in my neck of the woods. It has been a great season so far with a lot of fish boated. Starting on the opener and the proceeding weeks I worked shallow sand flat areas in 5-7' using crankibaits. The water temps were in the low 50's. This scenario begs for live bait rigs and jigs and minnows and these baits do have a time and a place but for me there is nothing better then casting for open water eyes! I like to throw #5 shad raps early season and slow roll them back to the boat while fancasting the shallow flats. The key to cold water cranking is to slow way down and then slow down some more to keep that bait wiggling but in the face of the fish just long enough that they can decide it is a meal. In my area, and many of the metro lakes, the key forage options for walleyes are young bluegills and perch. I like to target areas that have nearby rock and gravel, deep water and also a defined emerging weedline when early season cranking, subsequently these are also areas where you will find gills staging to spawn. For early season think spawning habitat. Rock and gravel are premium but walleye will spawn over sand if suitable spawning habitat is unavailable. Walleyes will even stage and make mock spawning runs in lakes that have less then suitable habitat to spawn, moving to sand flats and even up into the shallow water rip rap areas. These areas will tend to congregate fish but in many metro lakes where there is not enough suitable spawning shoals, the eyes will find the nearest sandflats and do their business. Emerging weedlines: This is a pivot point but also a piece of structure that will congregate bait and give walleyes ambush cover. Typically this is also where a sudden bottom change occurs where sediment and light penetration are suitable for the first developing weeds to emerge. This emerging structure in combination with a bottom content change tends to be very distinct later on in the season but early season you can find these areas while cruising the flats and looking for the weed growth on your electronics. One key to finding a good sand flat area is to watch where the developing weedline starts. If the weedline starts in less then say 5', you are probably looking at a mud and silt bottom and the adjacent weedline will tend to hold bass and pike but few if any walleyes. Why fish the emerging weedline instead of live bait rigging at the base of the first break into the basin? Well, in early season the fish will migrate from spawning habit to the first available structure that holds bait and this often equates to the emerging weedline. Cold water temps in the 45-55 degree range, you will want to run baits with a tighter action or a slow side to side roll like shad raps and thunder sticks. Casting these baits work them back to the boat at a slow crawl and even throw in a pause now and then. The pause often triggers following fish to strike when the bait stops right in front of them, they just cannot resist. If trolling when the water temps are in this range work from .8 mph to 1.2 occasionally pumping the rod forward and dropping it back. Again, this can cause a follower to become a biter. When the water temps increase into the upper 50's and low 60's this is a time to start increasing your retrieve speed as the fish are becoming more active and will readily smack a faster moving bait. As the temps move into the mid to upper sixties it is game on and you can start running and gunning with lipless rattle baits retrieved just fast enough to occasionally tick bottom. These are ideal search baits and will take everything from bluegills to muskies. I like the rattlin raps in #5 and #7 for most applications but will beef up to a #8 if I am really burning them looking for reaction strikes. I like to work these baits on braided line with a bait caster and often will use them over the top of emerging weeds. If I feel a weed on the bait, often you can rip it once or twice and return to a normal retrieve weed free.

Down to one shift and 24 hours of scrambling to not forget any crucial gear. Gotta pack clothes and buy food yet. Weather still looks great for the week. This time of year you have to pack for all weather conditions. With two young kids along, really got to make sure they are warm, dry, and well fed.

Welcome to Shack’s Blog Welcome everyone! This is the new bog format with the new FishingMinnestoa.com website. We encourage everyone to join in and post/comment on our blogs. Whose blog is going to become the most popular? What will everyone blog about? Most likely I will blog about catfishing but one never knows what could pop up in Shack’s Blog. Again, welcome.

My first blog ever, but I am excited about our Canada trip coming up this Thursday. A group of guys that I have worked with over the years (law enforcement) are taking our annual foray into Ontario. We have done this since 2005 and haven't missed a year yet. I don't think we will ever miss (knock on wood for good health, etc). We have been going to Donnelly's Minnitaki Lodge since 2006 and haven't ever wanted to change resorts. The people that run the lodge are like family now. We have had ups and downs in fishing, but usually if it is a down year, it is on us for not figuring out the right pattern. Our "down" years are pretty darn good. My oldest boy (12) went with last year for his first time and is now hooked. His younger brother (10) gets to go this year for the first time. Dad is pretty excited! I hope to keep this up to date throughout the week, and post some pics! Now just to get through this last shift and a half and scramble to make sure everything we need is packed.

Today we added more forums and re-organized them to feature the Minnesota based forums closer to the top for mobile members ease of use. We are working on a new policy to ensure those who post information and especially fishing reports/pics are rewarded. The policy is also geared toward 'having more fun'