Fishin report for Lake Iwanttobethere..

April 29, 2008

28 degrees out! What is with that? Coming down to the last few days of April and I wake up to the sound of the furnace running. A few patches of snow can be found if you look hard enough and far side of the lake still has ice. I know come August I will be complaining about waking up to the sound of the ac running all night and still the cabin will be to hot. But there has to be a happy medium here some where. Yesterday was just one of them forget me days, Nothing really happen at all. As a matter of fact I would be had pressed to remember what did happen. For some people it was an eventful day. Hunter for one got in some fishing and turkey hunting. Never really made much mind to the turkey hunting in these parts till Hunter set up in the Ole Mill. Looks like he is going to make a go of the place. Going to be doing some fish guiding to so that will be interesting. He will be a success at that as soon as people start following him around the lake.

The Johnson brothers have a help wanted sign up at the brewery. Looks like they are on schedule and ready to make their next expansion. Along with fishing season almost all the farmers are gearing up in the fields. The grain mill might be the most popular stop in town if you were to count the pickup trucks parked outside. Seed orders being picked up and the greenhouse out back is open for those who want to buy now and nurse them at home. My greenhouse is still full of stuff, well junk actually. Spent the winter as another storage area for what my wife refers to as " Good Stuff" I have plants growing inside the cabin but it will be awhile before I move anything outside. With a morning temp of 28 and no heat inside the greenhouse I would find nothing but dead plants. A few more weeks and I will move stuff out there and do some pot planting. Ground is to cold and to wet to do any turning over for me. The big boys, the farmers well they do it for a living and they will be far ahead of me. With the rising costs of everything a few extra rows of tatters will be planted this year and some more corn for me to share with the deer. Elmer has been out in his garden, just kicking clumps with his foot. Pepper has been at his side and together I think they are looking to see if any relatives of last years ground hog are around.

Honey do list is a mile long and I don't seem to be making it any shorter. Matter of fact now it has sub do lists to it as I keep finding other things that need to be done. Right now I am working on the fishing sub list. About half of the Puddle Humpers hull has been cleaned and I am waiting on an order of lure parts down at the Masterbaiters shop. Some of the stuff is on back order so I think others had the same idea as me and made lures over the winter that will never end. I am still undecided about what kind of boats seats to buy and more then likely will start the season off with the ones I have. Perhaps I will spend some of my stimulus check on new ones. That way I will have something to remember the check by every time I sit my behind down on them. Good or bad it will be a reminder.

Yesterday a big load of small round river rock was dumped down at the access. Skinny signed for it and it seems he signed a contract with the DNR to place the rock in the water at the access for erosion control. Later I came by and he had a sign out advertising "Skipping Rocks" for a dollar. You deposited a dollar in the box he had chained to the dock and then you could take all the rocks from the rock pile you wanted and "Skip" them out into the lake. Leave it to Skinny to find a way to make money from the tourists... Well looks to be another one of them days here at the Lake. Might warm up to fifty out and maybe the sun will shine enough that I can open the garage door and work on the Puddle Humper. Garbage day and I can hear the truck working it's way around the lake. Guess I better make sure my can is out and not dumped over . From Lake Iwanttobethere (29580)

May 1, 2008

This morning starts off with an overcast sky and an outlook of rain in the forecast. Already have been up for a few hours and into town. Had to make a trip into the Gas-N-Go for a couple of cans of tomato juice. Not for breakfast mine you but for a juice bath for Pepper. She was over at Elmers last night and on her way back to the cabin she ran across a skunk. Pepper being Pepper could not leave things alone and yup she got sprayed. Another sure sign of spring. She came to the back door and Barney and Buddy turned and walked away from her. If dogs could shake their heads in disgust they both did. So with deck lights on I lost the toss of the coin and Pepper got a milk bath and then a juice bath. Normally I keep a few cans around just for this reason but Tess has been to the house and her and the wife drink Bloody Mary's. The coin toss by the way never happen. I was going to toss the coin but the wife just said she was going to bed and turned and walked away. Smell is still heavy on the deck so something else added to today's do list. Now I am hoping for rain.

Evening the last two nights have been busy. Town Hall meeting and the Lodge meeting. I don't have the minutes for either meeting close at hand. Shannon will drop off Hall meeting today and the tattered blue notebook holds the Lodge meetings. Elmer tracks those and he just takes notes which he latter expands on when he is bored. I can tell you that already Windy is holding her own in the electricity department. We are making juice, enough to run the Lodge on except for peek times when all the deep fryers are on and Lodge is lit up. With sunset a little later everyday we are using less lights and Windy is handling it. Another advantage of the tower that Windy is on is we have set out a new AM antenna wire for the old tube radio. And relocated the CB antenna to the tower also. Elmer is in charge of that and he has been spending time in the evening tuning in them big three letter radio stations that are still out there.

Town finances are good through the first quarter of the year. Snow removal is where it should be, even after those late storms. Parking meters are generating money and Golf course should be open soon. There will be no increase in green fees. The Lodge and town work together in the park and Skinny and Hank reported that the access and park are in good shape and ready for the opener. Question was asked and answered in regards to the rock pile on the beach but that is already half gone as smelters dragging seines make good practice at rock skipping. Somewhat like the guy in the cart picking golf balls on the range. New quarter lights in the fish house have been on all night, getting a lot of use with smelters. The perfume smell is almost gone from the building now having been replace with Smelt smell.

Lodge meeting was held, average turnout. Some guys did come up from the beach in their waders to attend. We open the deck doors and made them sit out there, Water dripping from their boots. We reviewed fishing opener looked over hours for the Lodge. Discussed the reopening of the Lodge front doors and a timely time table for repair work. Right now it will be sometime in mid summer when fishing slows. Needabeer has been added to the keg list and it was voted and pass that Hamms will still be the beer of the house. And no beer can be sold for cheaper then the Hamms. A free Needabeer was passed out for Lodge members to sample if they had not already. Barley and Hopps were there to answer questions. Lodge will be sponsoring a leader board for the upcoming Fishing Challenge. Lodge may also sponsor a team. Have to wait for draft day to see who may be on it.

Corn Cob days were also discussed at both meetings. Not till later in the summer the town wants to promote this more and also would like to get back to awarding the Cob Key to the city. This was sent to committee to be chewed over some more. So the town is looking good, The Lodge is fine, except for a few missing shingles that were spotted when the antenna wire was strung to the tower. Hank will get to that sometime this week I am told. The Lodge meeting broke up and guys were taking the time to go down in the basement and pull out new rods and reels that have been hidden there from their wives. Vicki from the Masterbaiters shop was at the meeting and had a box of sample fishing line that guys could go through and spool up on. Other then Earl snagging Wilbur's waders when he was trying to leave there were no mishaps. Well maybe the fly cast demonstration should have been held outside, but we told them not to have the fans on when they did that. On the other hand Doc Burriem was able to demonstrate the proper way to remove hooks from soft fleshy areas.

So from a real and earthy smelling Lake Iwanttobethere (29791)

May 2, 2008

Elmer stands on his dock facing the wind and the waves being washed up around his boot covered feet. He has on his old yellow oil skins that are older then well they are just really old. The matching hat makes him look like he belongs on a salt box. I don't know how he does it but his pipe is lit and smoke curls out from under the hat. He turns from time to time and waves me out with his arm. I salute him with my coffee cup from behind the glass deck door but I ain't going outside unless I have to. He turns back to face the wind and waves coming off Lake Iwanttobethere. Been blowing all night, again. Rain has come and if we were on the ocean I guess we would call them squalls. My wood row boat rides the waves and bounces off the bumpers made of old tires.

A few shingles lay on the deck, I have not gotten up to repair the few from the last wind storm and now I see I have few more to replace. Mother nature is jerking us around but good this spring. No sense in trying to sweet talk her as she is not going to give us two days in a row that are nice let alone decent. Sunshine Ray has even suggested that we might have snow in the forecast for tonight. It's May already, give us a break! Fishing opens on the far side of the lake tomorrow, if they are looking for a walleye chop they are going to get it.

The old goose made his return yesterday. Came in around four or so and made a controlled crash landing in the water just beyond the dock. He paddle ashore and then climbed up on the dock to rest. Bud saw him and ran down the grass to stop at the edge of the dock. He made some short barks to let the goose know he was there and the goose honked back. There they sat. Neither giving up there spot. Reflecting back on it now I think they might have just been asking each other how they were and the goose was saying he had a hard flight and before they could start chasing each other he needed to rest a spell. This morning the goose is no where to be seen but I am sure he has a more sheltered area to go to in weather like this.

The bird feeders are all empty. If the birds didn't do it then the wind has tossed them around and scattered the seed. The one close to the deck has deer tracks in the soft ground so I know who got to that one. Got a fire going in the fireplace, ain't no way I am going to hear the furnace running in May. Dogs are all sprawled out on the floor in front of it. Kitchen table has tackle boxes emptied on it as I am sorting and adjusting things. Cats move across the table top like tight rope artists. Sniffing and pawing at things that are of interest to them but avoiding hooks and plastic worms. A red and white bobber rolls off the table and a game of soccer between the cats is played. Swatting the rolling bobber they have found a way to entertain themselves. They disappear chasing the bobber down the hall towards a bedroom.

I add a splash of hot coffee to the cup and return to the deck window. Nothing has changed. Waves are rolling in, wind is blowing and Elmer is being Elmer. If he was a kid his ma would have called him in long ago. But since he is not, Elmer is enjoying mother nature. As he puts it you never know at his age when this will be your last storm. He would rather feel it then have missed it. From Lake Iwanttobethere (29963)

May 3, 2008

Leave it to Earl. Outside of his General Store the rack was restocked with rakes and leaf bags, knee pads for planting and a box of Kites. Yes good old fashion kites. The ones with the thin strips of balsa wood and three mil plastic covered in pictures of dragons or birds or even a superman or two. Smaller plastic bags held small wood gliders and if you dug deep you could find a plane or two with the rubber band and plastic propeller. I don't know where he got them from perhaps they were in the back store room out of sight and forgotten in the inventory which is Earls mind. But here today, another windy but sunny day it was the perfect thing to find sitting in the impulse sale rack. So acting on impulse I bought four kites, and on the counter inside I found spools of white twine. I bought four of them to. In to a bag they went and then they found a spot behind the seat of the Dodge. The next time when the grand kids come to the cabin I will have kites for them to fly.

Yesterday it rained all day and today was suppose to be the same. So I slept in late expecting another lousy day. I woke to blue sky, funny I felt betrayed by the lack of lousy weather. I was so prepared to do nothing that the lack of rain left me looking for something to do. I found myself down at the general store, walking the isles looking for something I didn't have, didn't really need but knew I would find it when I saw it. I left with a wide blade putty knife and a bag of kites.

Fishing has started on the far side of the lake and walleyes were being caught, just some skinny males but they were walleyes and they were green and awful pretty. I saw them in the back of a pickup truck in the Lodges parking lot. Two of the guys had made the trip to the far side of the lake and were in the parking lot with truck and trailer. Already their boat had time on the water and they were standing at it's side showing off fish and entertaining anyone who wanted to listen to how they caught them, the walleyes that is. Like a car accident guys drove by rubber necking and then slowed down. Some pulled in and parked and walked over feinting indifference they wandered over to the boat and trailer and checked out the catch. Some continue in to the Lodge and sitting at the bar order a draft beer and gazed out over the lake. Second guessing their decision not to go fishing this morning because of the forecast of lousy weather. O well there will be plenty more days to fish and many more lousy days of weather to come. At the Lodge last night a few of the guys were debating the cost of gas and Sunday afternoon scenic drives. They have come to the conclusion that it is now cheaper to drink beer then it is to buy gas. We all had a beer to that.

Being the first week of May all the flamingoes have been gathered and power washed. Later this week they will find new homes in groups of twenty five and one group of twenty eight. We lost one over the winter. An encounter with a snow thrower. So now we have 228 After a while I left the Lodge and took the access road, the long way back to the cabin. Weaving in and out I can see my point and from time to time a kite high in the sky. A big red one and as I get closer I can see a tail made of hanker chiefs knotted one after another. I pull in the drive and lose site of the kite but it reappears above the big pines. There on his dock sitting in his chaise sits Elmer. Holding a rod in his hand with the fishing line skyward attached to a big red kite. A big smile on his face Elmer greets me. Feinting indifference I stroll over to his dock. My head tilted back I watch as the kite dips and dives and then pulls hard skyward. Elmer asks " Want to give it a whirl?" I say " Naw" and continue to watch. From time to time the drag on the reel screams a little, a beautiful sound, that of a drag talking. I have not heard it since fall.. The kite dips again and Elmer sets the kite like he is setting on a big Northern. The Kite responds and climbs skyward as it catches a gust of wind. Elmer chuckles to himself and sits back in the chair like he is deep sea fishing. The butt of the rod buried deep in his gut and both hands hanging on to the rod. His feet planted against a crack in the planks of the dock.

" Aw heck, let me have a go at it" I say. Elmer stands up and I slide into the chair. He hands me the rod and instantly I feel the rod pulse and the long line out to the kite tugs right and then left. Elmer tells me to close my eyes and I do.. It don't take much to forget that there is a kite at the end of the line and I am holding a fishing rod with Mr. Big on the end. Turns out today was not quite as bad as it started.. From Lake Iwanttobethere... (30101)

May 5, 2008

Sun is shinning here at the lake today. About time!!! Well we really have had a long winter and a spring that just does not want to get out of first gear. Looking forward to summer, I think it is going to be a great one. Yup you heard me say it right here. Even with gas prices rising and weather not cooperating I am predicting that Summer will arrive and it will be a good one. Fishing will be good as we have some water in the lakes and the landing are wet again. A few more lakes will be fished by me and the Puddle Humper as I will be able to get it off the trailer. The daughter is done with college in another week and she has been asking about fishing on an almost daily basis. She has been looking forward to fishing as much if not more then me.

As some of you may have read she is an art major and enjoys painting and taking pictures of the outdoors. She, like me walks with her head up and sees what is going on around her. I'll take credit for teaching her how to do that. She made me and her ma proud the other night as she received an award. She was selected as her colleges Fine Arts student of the year! It will look good on her resume and as she puts it she has earned a summer of fishing now.

Yesterday was a good day on the honey do list. Fixed the damage roof from the past wind storm and blizzard. Got yard cleaned and even had the fire ring burning. Took turns making hot dogs and watching Grand kids run. How did we ever survive to get old? I don't remember my parents yelling at me as much as I yell at my grand kids to watch this, look out for that. I wince when they go head over heel down the hill. Tossing rocks and swinging sticks and climbing fences. My youngest grandson has just learn to be able to flat out run, trouble is he has a problem with stopping. The stopping part ends up with him face first on the grass. #1 grandson went in the house after being knocked down by Bud. He announced to grandma that he was full of sh@* not his though. He had fallen on some dog dodo.. Cleaned up and with fresh clothes he was back outside a few minutes later to help uncle Dug change oil on the Dodge. Granddaughter was down on the dock with Barney looking at sunfish slowly moving around near the dock. When I walked up on them she turned to me and putting her finger to her lips made the shshhh sound. She did not want me to scare the fish away.

I think everything just said at once. Spring is here and we are not going to take it anymore! Seen several flights of geese flying over head. Hawks have been soaring over head also. Not seen any Eagles yet but I expect they will be flying over head soon. Deer been in the bird feeders and skunks have been out and about. Changed the flood light up high on the peek of the cabin so the wife don't have to come from the garage to the cabin in the dark anymore. After Pepper getting sprayed the burnt out flood light some how found it's way to the top of the honey do list. Reels have new line and tackle boxes are cleaned out and ready to be loaded back in the boat. Batteries are on the charger and new fish measuring board has found it's way on board. Several days in May have names penciled in for fishing dates and a few more have question marks on them. Ground is wet and soggy so tilling and grass cutting may get a late start this year. Ain't that to bad.... Will have to spent that time fishing then.. A few bays on the lake that will warm up and northerns should be back there waiting for me and the daughter.

Well I need to go after that honey do list some more here while it is sunny and nice out. License plates stickers to put on the trucks and the green house needs to get cleaned out. I might go down and spend some time with Barney just standing on the dock and watching the water. O and the kites... Of course when the kids were here yesterday there was no wind to speak of, not good flying days. But grandma had been to Earl's to and had bought four big bubble wands. So the kids made big bubbles and Pepper exhausted herself chasing and popping bubbles. So we sent them home to their parents, dirty, muddy, and tired. Peace and quiet has returned to the Lake, for now. From Lake Iwanttobethere (30354)

May 6, 2008

Almost ready to start the fishing countdown in hours rather then days. Town is a busy place today. Already traffic is on the rise and most parking spaces are occupied in front of the businesses on main street. Earl at the General Store is no where to be seen, he is missing from his spot at the front door. He is out back helping to load orders for local resorts. His son Junior has been making trips with the delivery truck all morning bring out propane tanks and bulk goods. Bell has been ringing over at Ma and Pa's grocery as order are coming in for steak and burgers and can goods. Hank and Skinny have been putting out docks all week and Hank still has a pocket full of index cards in his pocket. Both the Do Drop Inn and the Sunshine Cafe are doing a brisk morning business as eggs and hash browns are being scooped into waiting mouths as people talk of the fishing opener and if there are any empty cabins for rent or rooms at the resorts.

Gas -N- Go has two people on as one is at the register while the other is busy stocking the cooler and making sure the ice box is filled with bags and blocks. Vicki has extra help on at the Masterbaiters shop as the buzzer on the door has been disconnected. So much traffic coming and going it was becoming a nuisance. Her sister Claire is here for the week and is anchored at the cash register. Doing nothing but selling fishing licenses and answering the phone. It will be like this right up till Sunday night. Some rain in the forecast and even today a chance of showers. Everyone is in a hurry to get stuff done now before it gets wet out. Anywhere you go in town they are busy. You can just pick a store and it looks like a bee hive. The car wash is busy, no one works there just the owner who comes in and opens the door in the morning and then late at night comes and cleans it out. He replaces the soap in the drums and empties the coin box. You can't even tell he has been there except you see the mound of dirt along the side grow a little each day till Hank comes and hauls it away. Today a line of trucks with trailers and a few boats wait. Not much talking going on in the parking lot like there was last week. A lot of waving though, people still have time to wave as they drive by.

A lot of cabin owners are already here at the lake. Been a long winter and some just can't take the city anymore and have used a few extra vacation days to come up early. The past few days has seen Dick from the gravel pit hauling loads to fill in driveways. Took a long time for all the snow to melt and to reveal them pot holes that were talked about last deer season but now are felt this spring. Mark the mailman will be making his last road side mail delivery on Saturday. Come next Monday the mail will be delivered at your dock mail box. I have to add that to my do list to slap a coat of paint on my dock box and to put another bolt in the paper box as Jessie will start dropping the paper off out there soon. With fishing season here he will be able to troll as he does his paper route.

I am just sitting here on the bench under the street light in the center of town. I have so much to do that I don't know where to start, so I thought I would just take a little stroll down from the Lodge and watch everyone else work for awhile. It has a calming effect on me. I am well on my way on the Honey Do List but for each thing I put a pencil line through two more seem to find there way to the bottom of the list. I am testing the theory that if I do nothing the list will stop growing. So as everyone is busy being little bees I am sitting here enjoying a calm day, A little sunshine and the occasional flash of a naked ankle. Fishing is just about here and Summer can't be to much farther behind. From lake Iwanttobethere (30577)

May 7, 2008

Sixty some hours away from the opener. How come there is not the same tension as there is for hard water fishing? I spend some time on the fishing boards and everyone is always talking it up about getting out on that ice and catching some perch. Maybe just that open water fishing might be a little bit more laid back and relaxing. I can't see myself dangling my bare feet into a open hole in the ice. Well I don't see myself doing that off my dock for a few more weeks either. I guess open water fishing had it's own special way of life around it. For a lot of people it means that the cabin will be open and you will be making the trip there for your vacation or just up on weekends. For others it is not a cabin but the summer home and they will stay there till fall and make the trip back and forth to work. Some kids will be lucky enough to stay at the cabin for summer and enjoy a slower way of life and share memories with us who grew up at the cabin.

That way of life I am afraid is disappearing. Cell phones and computers, ear plugs for music, thank god for that as I don't hear much coming out of them things that passes much for music. Sounds like someone is getting a tongue lashing with all the swear words and here it is music that they are listening to. Would rather hear the sounds of a baseball game being called on a radio where you did not have to worry about curse words spoken just for the sake of saying them. I can't imagine that I am missing out on so much stuff that as a twelve year old I have to be in constant text messaging with my buddies. I know I can talk faster then I can type, why don't they just talk to each other? Better yet, why don't they just spend time together. Many a time I have spent laying in the cool grass under the lake willow with a bobber in the water and my best friend ( not my dog) laying next to me. Very few words were spoken but we were having good times and I still remember them years, no decades later. Ask your kid who he text an hour ago what they talked about.. "Nothin" will more then likely be the answer.

Well no one wants to hear me ramble, I am sure you came here for the fishing report and sometimes, well actually most of the time I never even write about the fishing here at Lake Iwanttobethere. If you are a first time reader and it seems that there are several new people coming to explore the lake you will see my fishing reports are pretty much all over the place. I have this bad habit of getting sidetracked. Friend of mine told another friend that when they see me coming they make sure they go to the bathroom, cuz it is going to be a while before I let them go. So I guess I do talk a lot, but in my defense I do listen a lot to. Which mean I have something to say to what they are telling me. So fishing reports, well if you are here, at the lake, we will just point to an area on the lake and tell you what is biting. Or take you to the Lodge and explain the colored markers on the big wall map in the hall leading to the washrooms. If you are a member of the Lodge then you will understand. You will understand what it means to greet someone by saying HIYA and what happens when ya do.

So back to the fishing report, I don't have one. I was on my way down to the Lodge to start asking questions when I got sidetracked. This was yesterday evening. I was pulling down the drive when looking across I could see my neighbor Elmer with his hands on his hips starring into his garage. I drove down the drive and then back up his drive. Getting out I walked over to him. He was staring down his garage refrigerator, the beer fridge. Was having problem with it keeping things to cool. So Chuck my neighbor on the other side was called as he has some experience in beer fridges and the first thing was that the fridge should be emptied. We spent most of the evening emptying the beer fridge. Never made it to the Lodge. I have no idea how the crappie fishermen are doing. I do know that Elmers beer fridge is now clean and sometime later this morning it will be restocked. The coils have been dusted and it seems to be working just fine now. Might have something to do with defrosting. Seems we have to do this several times a year and it always works well after we empty it.

Hope you are headed on up to the lake here this weekend, I can show you where to fish and of course everything is just as you remember it. Stop in at the Lodge and join our fishing contest. Vicki at the Masterbaiters Shop has shiners which are in short supply elsewhere. Amy has the best loose meat sandwiches and you can't beat the 11 egg omelet at the Sundown Cafe. Docks are out at the landing and new fish cleaning house is ready for you. Lodge is having a special Mothers Day special. Coney's and a bowl of chili and no dish washing for ma... From Lake Iwanttobethere (30814)

May 8, 2008

Tick Tick Tick... Many an office has heads watching clocks today. Guys playng with pencils while making sales calls under the humm of fluorescent lights. Some are working half days waiting for lunch and punching out for the week. Other are busy looking over their shoulders as they read articles about fishing conditions and search the gas price site. Still others have web cams up watching ice melt and wind moving water. A few wonder why these web sites don't have sound so they can hear the waves and that seagull that just flew by. Plastic bags of fishing lures and reels await in the bottom drawer of the desk. Been meaning to get them home and in the garage but now either today to tomorrow they will have to be brought home. For some it's no big deal, for others they have to get the bag past the sergeant at arms to the security of the boat locker.

Like little kids they fidget in their chairs. Checking the weather channel and bring up satellite maps of there lake, zooming in on that walleye point. Of course the picture is three years old but it does not matter. The point is there and the fish will be there come Saturday. Lunch will be here soon and out the door you will go. A few side looks from fellow employees who have to finish out the day or worse yet have to return tomorrow, the Friday before opener and work till closing. You plan on being well on your way to meet up with your buddies at the fish camp.. Fish camp, same as deer camp but now instead of going out the back door heading into the woods you will go out the front door and head for the dock.

I was out taking my morning stroll here at Lake Iwanttobethere and I sat for a spell on the bench under the street light. A little to cool for just a wind breaker on so I had to add a hooded sweatshirt under it. Overcast skies and a little breeze some dampens in the air. Lake is gray and has a nice walleye chop on it. Already down at the access and campground some of the prime spots near the waters edge have been claimed. Trailers are blocked up and rain fly's attached. Picnics tables moved closer to the fire rings and a rope strung between two birch trees to hang a lonely wash cloth. Guys with jackets sporting names of fishing reels and patches saying "Lunker Club" on the shoulders move quietly around the trailers. No kids, no women are seen. Not even any young fellers. Mostly older guys who have the vacation time to spend on being the first advance members of there groups. They come ahead to stake out a beach head and then will await the rest of their party to show up in the next few days.

Sorrel boots are long gone, as are the bomber hats. John Deer hats rule the day as farmers are in town conducting business. Pickup trucks drive up and down main street stopping at the General store and then on to the feed mill. Hammering Hank and Skinny drive by with a load of dock wood in the back of the truck. Still working on putting docks in and making repairs. Car wash is quiet, just a blue Honda coming out wet and clean. Tomorrow will be the day, tomorrow you will have to wait to cross main street. You will have to look both ways as traffic will increase with pickup trucks and campers. Shinny boats and trailers with clean black tires will be pulled behind suv's There back windows blocked out with sleeping bags and coolers. You will have to wait for a parking spot down at the Masterbaiters shop or park along the access road and make the walk. Empty bait buckets will go in and come back out leaving drops of water as they are loaded into the back seat of the waiting car. Right now they are more precious then anything in the boat.

Yup it's getting closer, fishing opener that is. If you are one of the ones who has to work till five on Friday well I'll try and keep a spot open for ya here. If you have a satellite map of the lake on your screen well zoom in to main street here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Look for the street light and the bench under it.... . I be the one waving at ya... from Lake Iwanttobethere (31187)

May 9, 2008

welll here goes all or nothing. the troll thru dock is in and the screened-in shop is up and stocked. the root beer shack is fully operational again. i cant tell ya how much work it has been to get this project done. i have been busier than a one legged man in a butt-kicken contest. tanks are stocked thanks to vicki's cooperation. and the "stop at masterbaiters on the way. I'll be here when you run out" sign has been hung as part of our "agreement". i do want to thank everyone for their help in this venture and i am sure that it will be a nice addition to the weekend scene here at the lake. i will be open tonight til midnite for those that want to hit the midnite bell. and the doors will reopen at 4am with coffee on and bait nets ready. i do have the laptop and photo printer hooked up for you to post pictures on the braggin board. and can reprint a shot for you for a small fee as well. i wish all of you a safe and happy opener. remember your pfds. DONT forget the drain plug. and remember to check your trailer lights before you hit the road. surely a ticket for them not working could cut into the bait and tackle fund. it will be a working weekend for me, however i have monday tuesday and wednesday inked in on the calander for fishing with dad. i use ink when i plan with dad cause those days are not negotciable, and will not be erased. always remember that fish stories are welcome at the shop. we love to hear about "the one that got away". i will post on the winner of the poker tourney, some time next week. it was a great game and we do have our first liwtbt holdem winner. see you at the dock or on the lake. ... paul

May 9, 2008

The calm before the storm.... Well not a storm but it is quiet here at Lake Iwanttobethere this morning. Just a little breeze and the bays are calm on the lake. About half of the campground is full and people are moving around. Smell of bacon and coffee is heavy in the air along with a few fires. The clothes line now has a few hand towels joining the wash cloth and the picnic table has a stove resting on top along with a cooler. From my vantage point I can watch as every now and then a truck pulls in with a trailer. They weave through the campground till they stop and chat it up with past friends. They find there spot and start unloading and setting up camp. Others wander from trailer to trailer and the steady slamming of the outhouse doors can be heard here at the Lodge. A few boats rest up on the shoreline, tied off to trees.

Business as usual here at the Lodge, Gus has the day off as he will be in late tonight. Extra crock pot of chili has been set up and we already tapped fresh kegs for the weekend. The big map of the lake in the hallway has been wiped clean of it wax pencil marks. It awaits new fishing hot spots to be x'd on it's surface. CB over in the corner has been crackling away. As summer resident are trickling in and giving a shout out to see who else has returned to the lake. Later this afternoon the caravan will start pulling in off the freeway to the asphalt road that leads to the lake. Some cars will continue around the lake taking the dirt roads to get down to their cabins. Others will come into town and stop at Earls or the Gas -N- Go Amy's bakery will do a very brisk business till she closes at ten tonight. She will be back at six in the morning and the smell of hot bread and rolls will fill the air again.

Smoke was thick in the Lodge last night as cigars were burning as the main conversation was where to fish on Saturday morning. I went from table to table and listen in. Tables were pretty much divided up. Northern guys were looking forward to hitting the shallows. The thought being with the late ice out the Northerns will be up shallow. If it is a sunny day spoons might be tossed and slowly wobbled across the bottom. Other will try a dead sucker laying on the bottom, a good approach for the first day as a lot of guys will spend more time talking and catchin up then fishing. Crappie guys, well they just look at them Walleye guys as getting in their way. They have been on their spots for the past two weeks or so. North end of the lake the Bass season will be open so going back deep in the bays in search of warming water is there ticket. A lot of guys will be slow rolling spinner baits or fishing jigs real real slow. Walleye guys will be searching with shiners and looking for just the right depth. Will see then stacked up off the points and at the mouth of Mystery creek. Still others will be on the pontoons dragging a line for what every they can. Common thing will be everyone will be happy to be on the open water again.

Weather looks good, not great but it will be the same through the weekend. Overcast sky's temps in the upper fifties to low 60's some wind but not enough to make it to cold. Over night temps will make you want to sit close to the fire and long underwear is a good idea for fishing in the morning. Those who will be going out right at midnight might need to dress a little warmer and a couple of thermoses of cocoa or coffee is a good idea. The Lodge will be open all night but will not be serving. But there will be a flame in the fireplace and the lights will be on. Stories are of course welcome and we will listen to everyone like it is true. Tim the sheriff will be around as well as our local C O so even if you don't see them wear your life jacket and be careful out there. We want to see all of you around the Lake this summer. From Lake Iwanttobethere have a great opener! (31524)

May 11, 2008

Can Ya believe it? Sunshine Ray has to pick the opening of fishing to end his streak of forecasting. Where was that sun and mild temptress? Where was those gentle breezes? Must have been on the other side of the lake because they weren't here. Cloudy skies and a chilly wind. Then the rain started and it dripped for most of the day and well into the night. But as we sat in the Lodge and the clock on the wall hit midnight we could hear the first of the outboards starting up. From our vantage point sitting in the chase lounge chairs on the Lodge deck we watched as the red and green lights left the dock and headed out onto Lake Iwanttobethere. Actually I think the night was better then the day fishing. Nothing to report, some small walleyes a few northerns and the new fish cleanig station was pretty quiet.

The campground was busy though. Old friends meeting up and stories told over campfires. Sometimes it is not all about the fishing but the start of fishing. Young lads getting there first taste of night fishing with dad and maybe their uncle. Guys climbing into sleeping bags and tents wishing they had one of them pull behind trailers. Guys in trailers remembering the good old days of tents and cots. Some more guys up here at the Lodge remembering tents and trailers and sitting in front of a cozy fire watching with a cold Hamms. With the steady rain some of the guys came up to the Lodge to dry out and trade tales with others. Still others put on their rain gear and headed out onto the water. Several found shelter behind Root Beer island. Might be to get out of the wind or it may have been to catch a glimpse of Mindy or Mandy.

Sunday brought some sunshine and the rain of the day before was forgotten. A lot of boats working Mystery creek and the mouth. Seems some walleye were being caught and heard reports of a few 29 inch fish. Small northern were caught back in the North bay but the water is pretty cold still. Most guys fishing back there had there stocking hats pulled down over their ears and more then a few had their hoods up. Some fish were being caught but more stories were being told between old friends. The early morning quiet was only broken by the sounds of grouse drumming back in the woods and the return of sorrel boots scrapping across the carpeted floor of the boats. Boats are scattered across the water and they seem to gather when ever a pole bends with a fish on. Some fishermen seek out the lee side of land and hopefully can position themselves with the sun shinning on them. Coolers are quickly emptied of sandwiches and twinkles, Thermoses are drained and hands are kept dry between baiting hooks. Boats motoring past each other and hands are held out wide. The universal unspoken gesture asking if you caught anything and how big. Mostly waves were just exchanged and replies of " How about you?"

Back at the Lodge we had the Mothers day brunch. Lodge was open for business and we had roses for all the ladies, compliments of the Lodge members. This way no one was forgotten in the excitement of fishing. Kids were down in the park flying kites and tossing a baseballs around. Still to wet to really get up a game and a hard fast ball made the hand tingle in the cool weather. Smell of mini- donuts in the air and a few campers had walleyes frying in hot oil on there picnic table camp stoves. A few camping spots were open as guys who came in on Friday loaded up and headed home this afternoon. A few were taken up by late arrivals who quickly set up camp and then launched there boats. For them it was opener even if it was a day later.

Tomorrow the lake will return to normal, well fishing normal. Boats hanging out the back of pickups and other boats on trailers will be a common sight around the lake. People pointing fingers and shaking heads as small compact cars with boats bigger then them tied to there roof racks will be seen. Resort owners will not be seen in town as they will all be working. Tinkers fly in service will buzz the town as he takes clients to the far shores of Lake Iwanttobethere. Out of state license plates will be common on main street and the stores will all be open late. HiYa will be spoken between residents and people will ask about the saying. The Lodge will be open and welcome Lodge members guests and new stories will be heard and told and all will be taken as the gospel truth. The wall map of the lake will get some new x's on it and the fishing challenge board will start having entries. In time the weather will warm up and guys will spill out onto the deck, smoking cigars and drinking tap beer. We will watch the loading and unloading of boats at the landing and being the experts that we are sitting here we will make comments between ourselves.

The sunsets will come and the loons will sing in the evening, campfires will burn and sparks will float skyward. The boom of Del's pizza cannon will be heard and tourist will ask what that strange noise is. Grace and Bailiff will wonder the campground checking it out and people will ask if we have a leash law and who enforces it. They will be told that the Saint Bernard and the Bloodhound are the town's rescue dog and sheriff's deputy. They will shake there heads at us country folk. We won't even say anything about Barney the fishing dog. Eagles will soar over head and the geese will go after their poodles. The loons will make controlled crash landings in the bay and the ducks will follow there boats. A deer or two will make them think twice about driving and perhaps a bear will help themselves to cookies left in their cooler. Yup fishing is here and we have been waiting a long winter for it to get here. From Lake Iwanttobethere (32196)

May 12, 2008

With the fishing opener under our belts today brought a new routine to the lake. First off in the morning I now go down to the dock and retrieve the morning paper. Jessie the paperboy has already been by and the paper in it's plastic bag is secure inside the newspaper box along side the mail box on the dock post. A little cool this morning so I brought the paper back to the cabin to read. As the weather warms up I'll bring my coffee down and read the morning paper sitting on the dock bench. Barney has already taken up position on the dock and he stares into the water his tail flicking from side to side, watching. Bud comes out of the cabin does his thing and then finds a spot on the deck in the sunshine and lays down. He watches me as I come back up from the dock. I pause to pat him on the head and then head into the cabin.

Sitting down I check the calendar, now known as the FISHING calendar. I have work to do today and tomorrow but Wednesday looks good for fishing. Of course this fishing is a planned trip. I am sure later this afternoon or perhaps even this morning I will wet a line off the dock. Sitting at my desk I have a view of the lake and Barney on the deck. Sun has been up for awhile already and robins are working across the yard. A gray squirrel is busy robbing the bird feeder and I see Bud is thinking about getting off the deck and giving chase. Just about when he is ready to roll over Pepper is let outside by the wife. She lets the screen door close behind her, sees the squirrel and the quiet is broken as she jumps off the deck in pursuit and barking away she gives chase. Squirrel makes it to the big blue spruce and Pepper zips by underneath the tree. Elmer, hearing the barking opens his cabin door and Pepper continues through the brush and heads in a bee line to him. A few seconds later Pepper is with Elmer, her tail wagging so hard you think her rear end would fall off. Elmer looks up at me and waves. He and Pepper head back into the cabin. Quiet returns to the lake.

I take and make a few telephone calls, checking in with others around the lake that did go fishing. Elmer spent time right here on his dock, he has that brush pile out front of his cabin and it is within casting distance. Well maybe mid season casting distance as we like to kid him. Him being an old man and all he don't fling them like he use to. Chuck next door took his pontoon out and just let it drift out into the bay. Not to concern with catching fish he just likes to feel the rocking of the waves. Of course the day might have gone a little better for him if he had tested the old motor to make sure it started instead of waiting till he got on the other side. Water was running quick down at Mystery creek and some ice was still coming down. Nothing big but it made you not want to put your hands in the cold water. New fishing cleaning house got more use on Sunday then Saturday. Few more fish were caught and the sunshine let people sit out on the water a little longer then the day before.

Windy the windmill already is being used as a new landmark, I heard they were biting if you put Windy on your right and line it up with the Water Tower on your left and just stayed this side of Nytelyters bait dock. There is a long point there and the walleye were stacked up on it. That is what I hear anyway. Town was busy all weekend, a lot of visitors and a lot of new people came driving through to give us the look over. From what I have seen about half of the docks are out on the lake with a lot of pontoons still on dry land. At night the shore was about half lit with cabin lights and the campgrounds had some wood fires glowing. Lodge was busy, as members have returned to the lake. Lot of conversations going on and hard to find an empty chair. Johnson boys were here on Sunday night and there NeedaBeer was flowing from the tap. Not as well as the Hamms but still a nice chaser for the Wild Turkey.

So I hope your opener was a good one, got your boat wet and maybe caught enough fish for a meal. For some of you is back to work this morning and you will be chatting up with coworkers and that 14 inch walleye will grow to 16" by lunch and maybe be 21 by quitting time. Next year you will remember it as a limit of fish caught as you battled high seas and gale winds, but that is part of fishing and fishing openers. There never really is a bad one.. From Lake Iwanttobethere (32478)

May 13, 2008

The sun will come out, tomorrow,

Bet your bottom dollar, that tomorrow,

There will be sun,

This had to be written by a fishermen. Because yesterday there was no sun, Just wind and cold and waves pounding the beach here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Today is not much different. overcast sky's and the windsock on the dock is flapping. A little while ago a pontoon came by and both the driver and his passenger had on their snowmobile suits with blaze orange stocking caps. If I didn't know better I would say that I missed summer and we went right to fall. Hard to tell, no leaves on the trees, grass is short and in a lot of places brown. But then as I walked down to the dock to pick up the paper I heard a grouse drumming. A pair of mallards swimming off the point and Bud making a half hearted chase at the old goose. Of course the date on the paper was another hint that it was only May and I have not missed summer, yet.

Another one of them days that I have to work, being the part time building inspector for Lake Iwanttobethere there are not many of them. Some residents have returned and have ideas of spending that government check on improvements to their cabins. We are pretty easy going up here and it does not take a lot of paper work to ok some new steps or a door. Most are just repairs and don't even need an ok. I spend more time just bring people up to speed as to what went on over the winter and if they missed anything. Of course it is always a two way street as I hear about how fishing was over the weekend and keep track of the grouse drumming. Found a nice covey to hunt last fall on an owners tip I heard in the Spring. Deer are being a little antsy, have to be careful driving the back roads as the deer are using them as their own highways. Might be because of all the cabins being open and more people are out walking the trails and even now the sound of a lawnmower can be heard. I have no idea what they are cutting though.

Had to restock the wood box last night, for inside the cabin. Mid May here and we should be sleeping with the windows open but that is not the case. Chuck, my neighbor spend the better part of yesterday afternoon working on his pontoon boat. With his maple syrup done for the season he is now back to doing things he should have done before he put the pontoon in the water. Elmer came over and gave him a hand and Pepper was over there to. Seems he has a few chipmunks and Pepper took it on herself to chase them. I knocked off a few things on the Honey Do List and spent time in the garage. Still sorting and cleaning and finding things I didn't know I had. I did winterize or should I say summerize the snow thrower. I am pretty confident that we are no longer going to get any snow. The thrower is pushed back in the garage under the stairs to be forgotten I hope for many months.

Puddle Humper is clean and ready to hit the water, tackle boxes have been gone through and reels and rods are ready. Fresh gas in the tank and batteries are fully charged. Anchor rope lays coiled on her deck and she is as ship shape as if she was new. Wish I could say that for the old row boat sitting in the water tied off to the dock. I can hear the boat bumping against the old tires tied to the dock. Oars in oar locks resting and the rope coiled in the front connect to the paint can filled with cement. A couple of old fiberglass rods and some old century reels lay along side and on top of the wood benches. It is long over due to be painted and sanded. It was on my list for this spring but, well we have not really had much of a spring to clean it up. It found it's way back into the water and will stay there till fall. The grand kids like fishing in it and the kids like taking it out and rowing. Just a few minutes and a hundred strokes to make it to the pads and fish for bass. No graph, no fancy seats no trolling motor. Lot of fish have been caught out of that old boat. Still a lot more to come. I do move it up on the do list though. It might look better with a new coat of Hunter Green paint on it and maybe even a new paint can of concrete. But if I do that then I suppose I should paint the bench on the dock and then the chaise lounge needs to be painted and then. Well you can see how my do list just keeps growing. Actually it just kind of blends in with the lake and shoreline the way it is, Perhaps it can wait till fall to get painted.. From Lake Iwanttobethere. (32852)

May 14, 2008

Saw this strange light in the sky today so I google it and it came back as "The Sun" temps here in the sixty's and sunshine. I am not going to say anymore because I am sure it will all go away if I talk about it. Grass is getting green but the ground is very spongy. Lots of water which is a good thing if the temps were any where near normal. Boat landings look good and I took a drive last night and did some scouting. With my binoculars and with no leaves on the trees yet I could drive around the lake and spy er I mean observe fishermen and see what they are throwing and if they are doing any catching. Already today there are several boats out on the water and I am sure that later this afternoon the locals will be out. Tess and Hammering Hank in their wedding boat will be on the water by five. Tess has insisted that Hank spend time with her and she has taken to fishing in a big way. As a matter of fact she has a pretty nice walleye already on the fishing contest board back at the Masterbaiters shop. Skinny spends most of the day heckling Hank about the fish and it is good natured. Although I did see Hank fishing off a dock on his lunch hour, alone.

Mystery creek is quiet again, smelters have all left and the walleye fishermen have moved on to what they hope is the next hot spot. Several boats scatted around Root Beer Island hoping the winter bite is still there. Elmer was out on his dock with his fly rod, I asked if he was fishing and he told me he was just practicing. Barney was sitting next to him and Elmer was casting along the line of sight that Barney was looking. So I know the two of them were fishing. Pepper was laying up by Elmers garage looking out over his big garden. Just watching and waiting, I think she is on the lookout to see if any of then groundhogs return. Deck furniture is all out and the water bowl is filled for the dogs. Was already into town today and took a visit and a sit down at the Barbershop. Bart was busy telling anyone who would listen about the 25 or was it 26 inch walleye he caught. He was being pretty much ignored except by Mickey who was getting a razor shave. You tend to pay attention when someone has a blade at your throat.

I moved on after Bart started his story over again for the third time. Next stop was the cigar shop, I went into the walk in humidor and paused to take in a few deep breaths of the heavy air. I picked up a handful of my regular cigars and a few from the top shelf. Most of the time the cigars that I smoke have a burn life that just happens to be long enough to make the drive to the landings along the lake. The ones from the top shelf burn for a little over an hour which is how long it takes to get to the far side of the lake and a little bay tucked away that I like to chase northerns in. If gas keeps getting higher that will be my fall back. I will have to stop smoking the cigars and instead put the money in the gas tank. Will have to rely on bug spray to keep the skeeters away but I think the cigars work better. If it gets really bad I'll take Chuck fishing with me. Skeeters and them little biting black flies just love Chuck. If he is in the boat with me I will have none around me but Chuck will look like King Kong doing battle with the dive bombing sketers. Hanging on to his pedestal seat with one hand and flaying away with his rod in the other.

A lot of the town will be setting up chairs and enjoying a free air show this afternoon. The country to the north of us will be doing air shows and wanted to get in a practice run before they continue on down south to the big city. Since Lake Iwanttobethere is so large they were asked and given permission to have an afternoon practice/ show here out over the lake. I will get some photos and hope they don't break any windows. Well that brings you up to speed here at the lake today. Not a lot going on but there is always something going on. From Lake Iwanttobethere (33201)

May 16, 2008

HiYa from Lake Iwanttobethere. It's a Friday and the Lake is alive with the sounds of, do I dare say Summer? The common noise ringing across the waters here at the lake is that of two stroke engines running. Lawn mowers, garden tractors and tillers the abrupt stopping of an engine and maybe a faint curse word echoing across the calm waters of the lake. Funny how them rocks appear from out of nowhere. The menfolk are busy mowing grass and tilling gardens. The women not to be out done are out on the access road pounding up sale signs for tomorrow's rummage sales. Since I tend to write mostly from a man's point of view I seldom mention what the women here at the lake are doing. This weekend marks the beginning of the yard and rummage sale season. Friday can be a stressful day for the men as it is wise to stay close by. This is when the wife makes her semiannual visit to the garage in search of things that she has determine that I no longer need. Having marked this day on my calendar I have spent the past few days building a wall of clutter and boxes across the inside of the garage. I will sacrifice things in the boxes but am protecting the "Good Stuff" hidden behind the wall.

Two down right decent days in a row here at the lake. Sunshine Ray has been forecasting rain but none has fallen. He is right back to normal forecasting again. Hauled out the new tractor and I might mow this afternoon but I think I can wait. Besides if I am out mowing then the wife will have a clear assault on the garage and wood shop. Saw a welcome sight, that being a honey bee. They were in short supply last summer and I am hoping there is a hive nearby. Need them dudes around for the garden and the flower beds. The wife left to go down and see Earl at the General Store. Looking for some new rummage sale signs I think. I took advantage of her leaving and followed her into town at a safe distance. Soon as she turn off to go to Earl's I continued on to the Lodge. Campground already has a few tents up and a few trailers. Must be a good 10-12 trailers parked in the lot and a few guys are shore fishing. The rock pile is almost gone and I think Skinny has a sign saying you can skip rocks for free now. Must have been a success as he bought a round for everyone in the Lodge the other night. Of course it was when the air show was taking place and there was just him and Gus in the Lodge.

Air show was quite a sight. Sitting in our lawn chairs the access was the center of attention. The pilots made that ground zero and all of their tricks were held out over the water right there. Lots of boats took advantage and out front was a mess of pontoons and even a few sailboats. One trick they did was come low I mean really low from across the lake straight at us on shore before going straight up. More then a few people tipped over there lawn chairs and spilled their beers. All in all a nice show and it was free which was also nice. After the show with so many people around no one really wanted to leave as it was a nice evening so conversations broke out and a few fires were started in the fire pits. The mini donut wagon was open for business and Gus took the Lodges big grill on the trailer down and starting cooking up burgers and hot dogs. Hank and Tess started bring down chips and it turned into a BBQ. Mindy and Mandy were out making deliveries and when they saw all the people they stooped and passed out free root beer. That's the thing about the Lake, we don't need much of an excuse to have a get together.

So rummage sales tomorrow, the fishing challenge has started. Grand kids will be up to help grandma, boys will be out fishing. Daughters will bake cookies and talk about things that dads don't really want to hear about. Dogs will chase each other, I am sure the old goose will get involved somehow. Smores around the fire ring and Elmer will be over to tell stories and make coins appear from behind the grand kids ears. Looks like a pretty good weekend on tap. Of course Sunday night it will be safe to go fishing as the rummage sale will be done. I hope to have a good report for you and a few true stories. From Lake Iwanttobethere have a good weekend of fishing! (33778)

May 17, 2008

Well don't ask me how but I am a cashier for the wife's garage sale. First off this was not of my choosing but since I am here guarding my good stuff, I might as well make myself useful. Not a tuff job, I sit under a big umbrella with the wood cash box in front of me. My ash tray, a roll of yellow stickers and a black sharpie. A box of cookies are close at hand, raisin oatmeal they are for customers. But I feel that in order to maintain proper quality control that they should be tasted on a regular basis. I call it a garage sale even though it is a yard sale but we have been having these little popcorn rain storms come through and stuff has been moved under cover. Some tarps have been hung and plastic is tucked under the table to be brought out when ever it starts to rain. This of course does not stop the seekers of other peoples treasures as they just seem to drive from sale to sale during the rain and wait in the drive. As soon as the rain stops they exit their cars and trucks and a foot race follows.

I had to nail up a few sections of that almost invisible bird netting across the inside of the garage just in front of the wall of junk. A sign hanging on it said nothing for sale here. After every rush of bargain hunters I have to go back and untangle someone from the netting. The answer is the same, they didn't see the sign and just wanted to take a peek. A few guys stop at the table and we chat of fishing and watch as there better half haggle over a glass vase or a sewing pattern. Elmer is over and he handles the elderly ladies. Well the ladies his age anyway. He has brought over a few boxes of odds and ends and if he does not sell them somehow they will find there way to my garbage can instead of his. He does a little flirting and soon some gal will be at my table paying a quarter for a chipped saucer. He will walk her and her friends out to their car and wave as they drive away. He'll walk back with a smile on his face and some spring in his step. " What" he will say when he walks by me.

Cookbooks seem to be the thing everyone is searching for today. Several ladies asked if we have any for sale. I tell them no only to find out later that the wife has a stash of them and it is an ask only sale item. Guess I am somewhat new to the behind the scenes action at a yard sale. I have the laptop outside with me. I am in charge of watching the weather. Even though we have our own Sunshine Ray I do take advantage of a certain web page that allows me to view a radar station that just reaches out to Lake Iwanttobethere. A little secret of mine that I use in making bets at the Lodge. Many a Hamms has been poured for me when I differ with Sunshine Ray's forecast and win. Blue sky overhead right now but another storm should be here in about thirty minutes or so. Steady traffic as the sale is scheduled to go till five or so. All around the lake balloons Are tether to mailboxes and signs point down drives to sales. There are even pontoons making the sales. They tie up to the dock and then walk up to the tables and browse. Usually one of the guys is driving and then they will troll between sales. Bud and Barney both are on the dock and they escort the buyers from the dock to the sale tables. Bud has been keeping a watchful eye on the old goose who is not a very sociable. Pepper sits on Elmers porch and pretends she is a watch dog. Barking and letting us know when the next pontoon is coming.

I lite up a cigar and kick back watching the wife work and my daughter who somehow got involved.. She is selling some of her pictures and painting making more on one picture then the wife does in a half hour of peddling. But of course that is not the real reason behind a yard sale. So many reasons for sales. Some people are looking for something they don't have and need. Some people are looking just to snoop and see what you have. Others are looking to buy stuff to stock their next yard sale with and still others just like to kill the day haggling over a twenty cent scarf. For awhile there I had to run the sale as the wife said she had to make a run into town. Elmer and I exchange positions. I worked the tables and Elmer was the cashier. He dug out his pipe and sat behind the card table making smoke rings. I with sharpie in hand walked the tables and my answer to all questions was, 'What ya give me for it".. Guess that is a common opening line for haggling. I could care less and would accept the first offer made. About an hour later the wife showed up with a couple of boxes that she started to lay out on a table. Her black sharpie marking prices on the stickers. Her running into town was a ruse, she had gone and hit a few sales and was now trying to resell her purchases... Going to be a long afternoon.. From Lake Iwanttobethere (34093)

May 19, 2008

Got a reminder from Mother Nature that it is still Spring. I totally forgot that yesterday was the Mother in Laws birthday and with plans to go fishing I was in my own little world. I was going to go chase some small mouths over on Mystery creek when sisters and brother in-laws starting coming down the drive. Car doors open and a cascade of nieces, nephews and grand kids swarmed the grounds. Caught with tackle box in one hand and a rod in the other I was blocked in and could not leave. Asked by my sister if I was just getting back from fishing I just shrugged my shoulders and put the gear back in the garage. Locked the doors and went to the shed where I removed the keys from the tractors. Just got there in time as already the ten year old was looking to take a ride.

Found the wife busy in the cabin kitchen producing cover plates of salads and cut up vegetables and potato salad. Guess I had seen the dozen hard boiled eggs cooling but had not thought twice about it. Being like every spouse I acted as if nothing was going on. I picked up a carrot stick and made mention that I thought it was early for her mothers birthday. She made some remark about checking the calendar. I walked into the den and looked at the fishing calendar saw nothing about a party. Just a notation about fishing in the river. Wife passing me by chasing a grand kid with a roll of tin foil unfoiling behind him said I should check the REAL calendar in the kitchen. Wandered in to the kitchen and there in red was the mother in laws birthday and BBQ circled on the calendar. Mmmm well I went down to the dock where Barney was already fishing with one of the grand kids. Two others were busy turning over logs looking for worms. A couple of the nieces were busy on their cell phones texing or talking or what ever they do. Nephew was over at Elmers offering to mow his yard if he could use the riding tractor. Last time he did it he put it in the lake but he is a year older now and was stating his case to Elmer.

Had a nice little get together, I was just as surprised as my mother in law at the nice gift I gave her. BBQ was fired up and burgers were made along with some hot dogs. This is when mother nature reminded us she was around. With everyone out on the decks eating the wind shifted and we got a couple of gusts of wind well over forty to fifty miles an hour. In a second the tables were cleared of paper plates, cups and napkins. Trees sang out against the wind and the old row boat strained against it's moorings. A couple of the little guys were knocked down and kids screamed chasing their plates across the grass. Dogs went to work running down rolls and rolling hot dogs. Menfolk held on to their beers and cigars and the women to their hair. Just like that the wind died and order was restored. Except for the paper plates that had blown out into the lake. Sons launched the row boat and bailing as they left they went out and gathered up the plates. Kids picked up cups and napkins and dogs took care of the hot dogs. More hot dogs were made and Elmer returned from his cabin with a box of potato chips. The bowl on the table was swept away, I did see a chipmunk running away with a chip.

Mother in law and the ladies retreated to the inside of the cabin, just in case another gust would come. Inside they lite scented candles and drink flavored tea. Men found deck chairs and kids disappeared. Dogs now full found spots in the sun except for Barney who was still fishing. Chuck came over, smelling the BBQ he had an empty plate in hand. Lake was quiet and still again. This was broken up a rhythmic chant coming from the other side of the cabin. We got up from the deck and walking around to the other side, could make out a chant of " EAT IT, EAT IT, EAT IT" we found all the kids gathering in a circle around one of the nephews who was threating to eat a earth worm held over his mouth. Standing in the background we adults waited to see if he was going to do it.. He chicken out... Chuck walking past us reached into the cup of worms and pulled out a worm. Winking back at us he popped it in his mouth. Sounds of Cool and gross were yelled out and kids scattered. Chuck walking quickly past us made mention of needing a beer. From Lake Iwanttobethere (34690)

May 20, 2008

Last night at the Lodge we stayed late as the baseball game went into extra innings and those of us who stayed around sat out on the deck with our jackets on and a cold Hamms at hand. Cigar smoke drifted upwards and conversation was quiet. The almost full moon worked it's way across the evening sky and it's light was reflected off the calm waters of the lake. The ten o'clock freight weaves it's way around the far side of the lake and for a moment there we could not hear the game over the sound of the train engine. With the trees bare of leaves we could watch the bright headlight of the engine fickler in and out of the trees. From time to time we would take turns getting a pitcher of beer and refilling the popcorn bowls. The oily yellow light of the popcorn machine just about the only light on in the Lodge. Most people had already left for home when the home team won in the twelfth inning. Elmer got up and change the station, some soft music that just was background noise. Conversation in quiet voices between those of us who were left. A little talk of baseball and some talk of fishing. A lot of quiet time between spoken words. I loon sang out and all on the Lodge deck went quiet. The glow of cigars tips were the only way to see if a chair was occupied. Guys became lost in their own thoughts listening to the echo of the loons call.

After a while cigars went out and offers of another beer were declined. Guys got up and made that walk down the hall to the washroom. A few minutes latter they reappeared patting jacket pockets looking for truck keys. Nights were said and promises to report back on there next fishing trip out on the water. Nothing was heard from Elmer who was dozing on his wicker couch in front of the flickering TV, the sound turn down low. Barney had snuck up to lay next to him, Elmers hand petting him between his ears from time to time. Down in the campground a few fires were burning in the scattered fire pits. The creaking sound of the outhouse door could be heard from time to time and as we sat on the deck we watched as camper lights went out and fires became just dim glows in the darkening night.

Sometimes a story does not have to be long to say a lot. Last night was one of those nights when a little says a lot. Just sharing an evening, some small talk, a baseball game and watching the moon light on the water. That Loon brings memories back to everyone, just one of them sounds that makes you stop and remember. From a quiet and still night here at Lake Iwanttobethere. (35020)

May 21, 2008

Kerplunk......... Got to love that sound. Kerplunk!.... The sound of a red and white bobber landing in the lake. Kerplunk... Little rings spread out from the bobber as it hits the water and disappears for a split second before bobbing back up to the surface and righting itself. Little waves spread out from the bobber to form rings that grow as they roll away from the bobber. Growing smaller as they grow larger till they just melt into the surface of the lake and disappear. The line stands up in a loop from the top of the bobber to lay down across the surface. The line weaves it's way back to the waiting rod tip of the old rod standing in a holder on the wood dock.

Keplunk, the bobber lands but this time the line finds it's way into the hands of a youngster. It does not stay still long as it is reeled back in hardly before the little waves are gone. The bobber and rig is dragged across the surface and tossed in a better spot a few inches to one side. Still not the place it was targeted for but getting closer with each toss.

KERPLUNK! A bigger bobber this one, with a sucker underneath it. From experience you know this rig has to be tossed nice an easy, the weight of the bait taking it out where them northerns wander. You stand and watch. The bobber moving slow on it's own. The sucker beneath it pulling it along the surface. A good eye is needed as you watch to making sure the bait is doing the pulling not a northern below.

Kerplunk Just a little thing. The red round plastic top just showing above the surface of the water as it settles in. Small tiny rings move out to disappear in just a few feet. You peel of a few extra pulls of line and ease back into the dock chaise. A sigh is released as you lean against the sun drenched warmth of the old wood back. The rod lays across your leg and rests on the arm of the chaise. Your hat gets tugged down over your eyes and a loop of line rest across your forefinger. You close your eyes and feel the warm sun and a little breeze. A buzzing of a bee and that noise dragonflies make as they hover just out in front of you before looking for something smaller then you to eat. The croak of a frog somewhere off to your right and crow calling out in front of you as it is being chased by a couple of angry blackbirds. They move quickly out of sight and your eyes rest on a heron slowing working the shallows. You watch for awhile till she turns and disappear into the reeds.

Kind of like being in a deer stand only much warmer. Waiting, as you get older you work on that skill, some call it patience and are born with it. Others have to practice it and get better as time wears on. Elmer is good at it, as he says he has been practicing for a long time. I see him on the end of his dock early in the morning. I can hear the kerplunk as he settles in his chaise and practices. He is not fishing mind you, he is practicing. Sometimes he even puts a worm on his hook.. From Lake Iwanttobethere. (35681)

May 22, 2008

Hiya from Lake Iwanttobethere. Well some signs that the holiday weekend is fast approaching. The Gulp -N- Go raised gas prices overnight a dime and now have a pallet of charcoal stacked just outside the main door. Was up early this morning, trying to catch our paperboy Jessie for a fishing report. But he had already been to the dock and gone by the time I made it down there. I never really thought about it till now but when I say Jessie the paperboy you are probably thinking of some high school kid with a baseball cap and sporting a long sleeve two tone shirt. Actually Jessie is about sixty years old or so. He invented some gizmo that he sold a ton of on one of them home shopping networks and retired to the lake here several years ago. Looking for something to do he replaced the young feller who was headed off to college and now he delivers the morning paper and fishes a lot. It does pay much but it is enough to buy gas and oil for his boat and gives him a reason to be up and about during the summer. He says and I tend to believe him that the early morning is the best time on the water. For the most part the lake is calm and just a breath of a breeze if any at all. Morning fog lifts off the lake later in summer and you can see the dew on the grass leading to the water. He always has a camera on board and has some pretty nice looking pictures of deer, bear, otters and I have seen a few of a timber wolf he caught drinking.

Not everyone on the lake gets a paper so it give him time to troll between docks and toss a few casts at likely looking spots. Sometimes you can tell how good the fishing is by how late in the morning your paper comes. One time I never did get a paper because Jessie just was hitting them hard and forgot about the route. From time to time he will take people along his route for a ride along. After a morning trip with him they tend to forget about getting a paper a little late. Down at the Lodge we hired a full time bartender for the summer. His name is Mark and he is renting a cabin up here on the lake and will be at the Lodge full time working days. With the Lodge having open the doors to the general public during fishing season we felt that we needed someone who could actually mix drinks that people asked for. I can mix a few but everything that Elmer poured was basically Wild Turkey in a different size glass. This to will allow me some time out from behind the bar to allow me to sit at the bar. His girlfriend Norma Jean will also be doing some part time waitress work. Will take a little getting used as Norma is all of six feet tall and then wears heels to make her as tall as Skinny. With blonde hair all done up and makeup and nails we are already making bets as to how long it will take her to get into some jeans and a pair of flip flops.

Been busy this last week, with memorial coming up so quick and the weather just in the last few days turning Spring like. The phone has been ringing for tilling. Hammering Hank has been sliding me some of his jobs as he and Skinny have been living in their waders this week putting in docks. Lots of tourists in town and the locals are hard to find. The farmers have been busy planting and everyone who works or owns a resort has been working. Tinkers fly in service has been making daily passes over the Lodge as he heads out with customers and he dips his wings to us. Vicki at the Masterbaiters shop has her summer hours in full force and her and her husband don't see to much of each other. One is working while the other is sleeping. Might be why they have been married for so long. Speaking of marriage. Ruby our piano teacher will be celebrating their fifty wedding anniversary here on Jun 21st the first day of summer. Her husband made the remark it was the shortest wedding night of the year and Ruby says it has been the longest day of the year for the past forty nine years. This made me pause and think for awhile..

So I am out all day working, and I come home to greet the wife as she is carrying in some groceries from the jeep. Checking the fridge I see a white paper wrapped package marked shrimp. I start listening to what the wife is saying just in time to hear her says ' So I was at Ma and Pa's grocery and I was just writing the check to pay for the shrimp when I realized that today is our wedding anniversary, Hhahahh I had forgotten all about it" Frozen in front of the fridge with the door open I had just been told that I to had forgotten about our wedding anniversary. Pretending to take great interest in the white paper wrapped shrimp I made some feeble comment about my turn to cook supper.

Ducking into the den I looked and found a anniversary card from a few years ago, I quickly updated the signature and grabbing a handful of cigars I wrapped some green string that we use to tie the raspberry bushes up with. Wrapping the cigars in a bundle I took the card and cigars out to the wife and said " Gee honey you didn't have to get me these, and here I got you nothing! She smiled and gave me a hug and a kiss and told me it was nothing.. She then turned away with a frown and I returned to the den, putting the cigars back where I had them. Quick thinking had saved the day. I better find a gift for her before she figures out what I did. You would think after thirty one years she would know me by now... From Lake Iwanttobethere

(36412)

May 24, 2008

Busy Busy her at the Lodge tonight. Lot of regulers and a few tourist are also in. Holiday weekend is here and the resorts are booked full as well as the motel in town. If the wind was not blowing so strong off the lake it would be almost a decent evening. Sun was out today and hardly a cloud in the sky. But the wind, it was blowing all day today, Windy the windmill has been spinning away and the meter is in the green. Just in the past few days the buds on the trees have started to open and the hillside around the lake is starting to turn green. Just in time the Loons are singing in the evening and the Peppers in the swamps and lowlands are singing their evening song. The best thing so far is that the skeeters are almost no where to be found.

Campground down by the access is full and there might even be a few more tents then what the grounds have been approved for. Sheriff Tim had to run a group off campers off who were setting up camp in the softball field outfield. They tried saying that they thought the 240' sign they mistook for their campground number. They were sent on there way. A station wagon loaded down with camping gear pulled up outside of the Masterbaiters shop and a young couple with a two young lads headed inside. A few minutes later they came out with the boys toting new rods and dad with a full minnow bucket. They ran the short distance to the wagon and the taller one made the first touch. They all jumped in and headed on down the access road. Hank and Skinny have been loading up the firewood racks and today they were at the Lodge moving ice around inside the icehouse. Grace was there as soon as she heard the lock come off the door. She made her way to her stash of ice and dragged a chuck out the door.

Sunshine Ray has gone on record says the weather should warm up and only a chance of rain on Sunday. Monday looks good for the BBQ in the park and also for the fishing contest. Several pontoon boats are tied off together off the point on Root Beer island. A regular sight here on a Friday night and I am sure the group will only grow as the weekend moves along. Lot of lights coming on around the lake and I think it looks like a good holiday weekend coming up. Even with gas prices being high you can't miss the opening of the summer season here at the lake. Big Earl down at the general store has his rack outside the store stocked with charcoal and lighter fluid. Hot dog forks and bug spray along with the ever present umbrellas. Even down at Ma and Pa's grocery there is a cart with watermelons parked outside the door. From time to time you can hear the low boom of Del's pizza cannon firing. Pizza pans flying across the water to waiting hungry campers. With the sun dipping low here it will grow quiet as Del is not allowed to fire his glow in the dark pizza's.

Pretty good crowd here in the Lodge and Gus was busy in the kitchen most of the night. Mark the new bartender worked past his quitting time but I think he is having a good time meeting the guys. Seems he is a crappie fishermen and some of the bass guys are giving him some grief. His girlfriend Norma is doing well in the tips department as the Lodge guys appreciate seeing a pair of legs. It has been a long winter here at the lake mind you. Reed the Realtor is working the room shaking hands and introducing himself to anyone he does not know. Baseball game is on the TV and the home team is ahead. A few guys are watching but most are just telling tales and sneaking glances at the new waitress. A new jar of pickled eggs sits on the bar top and as of yet no one has broken the seal. Popcorn machine is popping away and the smell fills the air of the Lodge. Few guys have moved to the deck to watch the sunset and smoke a cigar. A few red and green lights can be seen moving on the water as boats come off heading for there home docks. Fire pits down at the park are burning away and the faint sound of someone strumming a guitar can be heard. Looks like the kids are ducked away inside their sleeping bags and the adults are sitting in their fold up chairs. I am sure talking of old camping trips.

I hope you can make it out to the lake and you find a good spot out of the wind where the fish are biting. Even if they are not there is still not much that beats a wiener cooked over a fire or the smell of coffee made over a campfire in the morning. Funny I always sleep pretty good when I can hear waves slapping against a boat or washing up on the shore. From Lake Iwanttobethere have a good holiday weekend. (37152)

May 24, 2008

Checking my work calendar on the computer I see I actually have three days off. The only thing that could change this is if I answer the telephone. I take the cell phone and stick it inside the desk drawer making sure that I turn it off. The last time I did that I left it on vibrate and it shook around inside the drawer drawing the attention of the dogs who then came to the desk and barked at the drawer that was making funny noises. Even after the phone had stop ringing the dogs continue to bark and paw at the drawer. This drew the attention of my wife who found the phone and then found me just in time to receive an incoming call and the loss of my weekend. Today I hid the phone turned off and inside a sealed manilla envelope marked 2006 fantasy football players.

Since last weekend was a wash out with the Mother in laws surprise birthday party, which was a bigger surprise to me then my mother in law I did check the master calendar in the kitchen. Nothing of interest was on the calendar so I checked the fishing calendar and it told me I should try the river. Now the fishing calendar is worked on over the long dark days of winter. I go through logs and note the days when and where I have caught fish and when the bite was on around Lake Iwanttobethere. I also steal er I mean ask questions of other fishermen and if I think I can believe there answers I add that data to my calendar. This gives me my fishing calendar and today is says I should go try the river. Of course it is also the opening of bass season on the river and it does have a good number of smallmouths but that has nothing to do with the fine art of research that was performed during the long winter.

I go out to the boat house and get down the river knapsack that was packed last weekend. First off I remove the forgotten paper bag with my lunch in it. I dump the contents out on the table and re pack the bag. Bug spray, stringer, rain suit, small tackle box, bigger tackle box. Dump out and rinse and then refill water bottle. Check juice box, still ok, not out dated yet. Lighter and scale and a zip lock bag. Spend some time looking for a missing nail cutter and find it under the knapsack.. Reload the bag and grab the fishing rod already spooled with fresh line. Open up the wife's Jeep and stick it all in the back. Being smart I think I will take the wife's four wheel drive as I ain't getting any younger and I can drive up the tote road that run along the river and save myself some walking. Now all that is left is to pack a new bag lunch and I will be off. I head back to the cabin but am distracted by Elmer down on my dock. I head down in his direction and see Barney running back and forth on the dock. As I get closer I see Elmer has his pole tucked under his arm and his pipe clenched between his teeth. The braided line disappears into the water and the line is cutting through the water from left to right and back again. Looking at Elmer I can see what I think is either a smile or he is in pain holding onto his rod. With his teeth clenched that way it looks the same to me.

I stand and watch the old pole is bent nearly in half and it seems that every time Elmer makes a few turns on the reel the fish pulls a few more turns back out. Noticing that Elmers pipe has gone out I offer to pull it from between his teeth. I grabbed the pipe and Elmer gasps for air. Color starts coming back into his face and he mumbles something about not wanting to lose his pipe and it is about time I pulled it out. About this time I hear the bell on the deck being rung and turn to see the wife waving at me from the deck, she is yelling something but I can't hear her over the grunts coming from Elmer and Barney barking. I just wave at her and she waves back. Turning my attention to Elmer I see the red and white of his bobber just under the surface. I go into the boat house and grab the big hoop net and when I come back out to the deck Elmer has the bobber out of the water and Barney is leaning over the edge of the dock looking straight down into the water at a big sucker foul hooked in the tail. Not wanting to say anything I just turn and put the net back in the boat house. Elmer walks the sucker around to the shore and removes the hook with a twist of a fishing pliers that is always in the back pocket of his bibs. Barney returns to the end of the dock and sits acting like nothing has happen. Elmer puts out his hand for his pipe and then with rod in hand heads back to his dock. I open my mouth to say something and he just points a finger up in the air and I close my mouth. I am already thinking how I will retell the story at the Lodge.

I make my way back up the hill to the cabin and Bud greets me. I pat him on the head and go inside. A few minutes later I leave the kitchen with a new lunch in a new paper bag and walk out to the Jeep. Except the Jeep is gone and with it my river rod and knapsack. Well what the heck I say out loud, I turn and go back in the cabin, that is when I remember the wife yelling at me during the height of the big sucker battle. I recheck the master calendar and see shopping written in small neat print on the bottom of today's date.

I walkout to the deck and take my paper bag lunch with me. Sitting down at the bench I put the bag on the table. I guess I am going to be here while. From Lake Iwanttobethere

(37524)

May 25, 2008

Looking back in my notes I see last year the day before the holiday it rained. Looks like more of the same today. Kids and Grand kids are all up for the holiday weekend and the cabin is full with dogs and cats. Grand kids helping grand ma in the kitchen and sons out in the garage going through tackle boxes and looking for a break in the weather. I never did get out fishing yesterday. After waiting for awhile on the deck and eating my bag lunch I got to tinkering with things. I ended up cleaning the green house out and transplanting some of my plants. They are now all out in the greenhouse and I even got the potatoes and corn planted in the main garden. The yard was made child proof and all the keys were removed from the riding tractors and shed doors had their locks secured. Ice house is empty and is ready to serve as the summer bunkhouse. With the rain the kids like to play outside in it. I have one grandson who is only two but he does like to be outside with me. He does not say to many words yet, Papa seems to be his favorite when he is here. The rest is just a language that only he seems to be able to understand. I give him another six months or so and we are going to have some good conversations together when I can understand him.

With all the kids running around the cabin the three cats have disappeared during daylight hours. As soon as the kids hit the beds last night they reappeared like shadows in the dark. Filtering through the cabin they find there way to the kitchen and their food dishes. One at a time they came to me in the den and jumped up on the desk. The small one, the mother sat and stared at me for awhile. Giving me attitude I think she wanted to know how long she was going to have to put up with kids chasing her. Her sons the two tom cats came in next and the three of them all sat on my desk and stared at me. I was of course talking to all three of them when the daughter came in and said she didn't know I was having a board meeting. One by one they all jumped down from the desk and again with the attitude slowly walked out of the room. The daughter sat down in a chair and said nothing. The bookcase was right beside her and she reached over and pulled out one of my fishing ledgers. She quietly read to herself from it and from time to time would ask if I remember when she and I fished here and there. I would respond yes and tell her how we did that day. She would check the ledger and more times then not I was right or pretty close. I have a good memory and so does she. Her mother on the other hand... Well we will leave it at that.

So now you are going to say what about missing your own mother in-laws birthday last weekend? Well I let the wife remember those dates. I call it micro mangement. Someone has to remember the important things like fishing trips and hunting adventures. That is why they make calendars for anniversaries and birthdays and holidays. Guys have to remember oil changes and when to sharpen lawn mower blades. The e.r.a of your favorite pitcher and passing yards of quarterbacks. Where the extra shear pins for the snow thrower are at and how many cigars are left in the cabinet. How much gas was twenty years ago and what kind of car you drove when you got your first kiss in one. I mean that is a lot of important stuff to remember. You don't see any of that on any calendar either. Did I mention the combo to your high school football locker 1-33-17 and your draft number.... So many things to remember..

Even though it not raining right now it will be here again. I see gathering clouds on the far side of the lake and Barney the dog is following me around the cabin. He is not one for rainstorms. I might have to wake up the youngest grandson, he is sleeping on the leather couch in the living room with Bud. Bud was already there laying on top of a couple of sleeping bags and the little guy using Bud as a pillow climbed up and is fast asleep. Bud tends to be a very good baby sitter and usually picks out the grandson to stay with when he is here. Barney was in there awhile ago and you could hear a low rumble coming from Bud as he warned him he had the couch. Barney moved on and found cookies to taste test in the kitchen. He return to the living room holding one in his mouth to tease Bud with.

The waters of the lake are calm in my little bay here and the granddaughter is down with her dad watching a couple of bobbers floating. The boat house door is open and they already have a few chairs set up just inside. When it starts raining they will retreat to the boat house and watch from there. My youngest daughter has her camera set up inside the garage and she is hoping to get some pictures as the storm moves across the lake. Guess everyone here is looking forward to the oncoming bad weather. Even Elmer next door has his tent out and the old fart loves to lay on his cot and watch the walls of the tent move in and out and the doors flap. He says the sound of the beating rain on the old canvas is one of his favorites. I have my swing with the roof on and will sit there and enjoy the rain. Usually Bud will be at my side but he is busy being a pillow right now. Barney has made his way under the desk at my feet so I know it's getting closer. Around here we look forward to a good thunderstorm, a little hail on the deck is always a crowd pleaser for the grand kids. No one is out on the water that I can see, guess everyone is heeding the warning that Sunshine Ray predicted there would be storms today. With any luck we will try and take the old rowboat out later this afternoon and maybe even take a ride on Chucks pontoon. Unless of course there is another storm to watch. From Lake Iwanttobethere.. (38165)

May 27, 2008

Hiya from Lake Iwanttobethere. We wake up this morning to sunny skies and already the bass thermometer on the cabin wall reads 55 out. Of course it is the day after a three day holiday weekend and people are back at work. That is how it works. Yesterday the high here on the lake was 64 at about nine in the morning. Then the cold front came through and it was all down hill from there. When the drizzle started around noon or so it made for a cool damp day. Here at the cabin the grand kids were all up by 7 in the morning and on the dock fishing for blue gills by 7:05 Breakfast was ready by 7:30 and grandma had big flapjacks with smiley faces on them and ham and eggs for the menfolk. The smell of coffee and hot cocoa drifted through to the den where I was.

Around eleven or so we all headed into town for the parade. Finding a good spot down by Ma and Pa's grocery we waiting for the parade to begin. Elmer was in it leading the way and instead of using convertibles with the drizzle coming down the idea of horses looked like a good idea. The local high school's ten piece marching band performed and a group of 4H kids followed. Last year the band took up the rear but with the horses and 4H animals they were doing a high step down most of the parade route. We even had the old horse drawn fire pumper bring up the rear washing the street down. The parade ended down at the access where the BBQ's were already going. Several tents had been set up and for awhile there the drizzle ended and people ate and tried to keep warm. By this time I think it was in the middle 40's out. Not really great parade weather but we do have to remember we are still in May and once again we had some frost last night.

Some people did some shore fishing trying to catch something to enter in the contest and there were a few boats out on the lake. Fishing has been slow as overcast sky's and the wind have been with us most of the past week. The thunderstorms did not make it to us here at the lake, went right around us but some very bad weather was down to the south with a lot of damage done. Last year by this tine we had already had two hail storms at the lake but nothing more then some brief hard rain has happen this year. I think I may have had a part in that as did get my roof fixed a few weeks ago and I know if I had not done that it would have been pouring for sure. Well after a visit with the locals the grand kids and their parents decide to head back out home and they already had the grocery getters packed. We made our good byes till next weekend when they will be back up. The wife said the Jeep needed gas so she took the Dodge back to the cabin and left me with the jeep sitting on empty. I took it over to the Gas -N- Go, filled it up and bought myself a candy bar. I then noticed that my river knapsack and rod was still in the back and I didn't need much to take a left instead of a right heading back to the cabin.

I found myself on the banks of Mystery creek a little while later. Funny when I got there the drizzle was gone and even a flash of sunlight made an appearance. Just like I was meant to be there. My second cast I hooked a little small mouth who gave me a brief battle till he came to the shore. My third cast was a cedar tree. Looking to make sure no one saw me I untangled the mess and acted as if nothing happen. In the next hour I caught five little bass, a northern, watched two perch follow my lure right to the bank and another northern jump out of the water chasing my lure. I also had one real good snag with a spinner bait. I walked up shore from the snag trying to get free and then decided I was going to have to break off. That is when I remembered that I had some of that new super strong line on and I was not going to be able to just break off. So I did the old fishermen's trick of wrapping the line around my hips and then turning around in a circle to pull up the slack and break the line. Well I made a few circles and the line was not going anywhere and all I had done is tied myself up on shore. Thinking to myself I should move away from the wet bank as I did not need the last thing in life to be found in the river tied up in fishing line. What would the guys at the Lodge say? I would be the talk for years to come over a Hamms beer how Bobby was dragged into the river by a snag. Not a pretty picture I think. About then the hook straighten on the spinner and the lure came free. I spent the next five minutes trying to untangle myself and hoping a fish didn't take the lure still in the river.

It started to drip a little and that was my cue to head back home. I took the ride back to the cabin and was not allowed inside by the wife until I was tick checked. She saw me put the knapsack and rod away in the garage. Six ticks later I was cleared to enter the cabin. I went to the den and entered five bass and one northern on the fishing calendar. From Lake Iwanttobethere (39263)

May 28, 2008

HiYa from the lake.. A down right nice day out as I drove into the Lodge the needle on the bass thermometer hovered right around seventy degrees. A number of boats could be seen on the lake through the thickening leaves on the trees as I took the access road in. What a difference a year makes I was thinking to myself.. Last year at this time the big fire up north was burning and the smoke was coming all the way to the lake here giving us some colorful sunsets. The woods were dry and the fire ban was in full force. This year we have water levels back up or maybe even a little higher then normal and the woods are damp and slowly turning green. With the cold spring we are still behind but making progress. The other night we had frost and it got cold again last night but not as cold as Sunshine Ray had forecasted. Still there were a lot of sheets laying on top of plants in the gardens.

Hawks are still floating over head traveling northward and this year no robins have decide to make my boathouse their home. I am a little disappoint in not having to do battle with them. In to the summer routine of opening up windows and watering plants in the greenhouse every morning and Pepper makes a beeline to Elmers garden as soon as she is let out in the morning. She makes a quick round to look for ground hogs and then heads to Elmers back door to scratch on it till he lets her in. Barney heads for the dock to fish and Bud finds a spot in the sun to go back to sleep in. Grass is ready to be mowed again but it can wait a few more days. Having Mark working at the Lodge is sure making my life a little easier. I came into the Lodge and got paper work done in just a few hours and confirmed some orders and was back out the door just before the lunch crowd starting coming in. I did grab a Coney to go and ate it hiking down the trail to the Masterbaiters shop. I did go down to check out on some plugs as was loading up the Puddle Humper I seem to have misplaced some lures. I was running low anyway so I went down to check on my account and ended up working a few hours while Vicki took a break. Well not really working just getting paid to talk some fishing and dip a few minnows.

Got to love the sound of minnow tanks running in the back ground the cold tile floor under your feet and sunshine reflecting of the wall of spoons. Buzzer always seems to be going off every few minutes and most of the people coming through the door midweek are locals. HiYa is exchanged and the secret Lodge hi sigh and then we get down to exchanging hot spots on the lake. Challenge is going on at the Lodge and of course we talk about who is on the leader board and how much skill or is it luck has gotten then there. Elmer comes down and is dipping in the tank for a dozen perfect shiners. I leave him be, I have better things to do then sort minnows. During a lull I pick out a few plugs and set them off to the side. Copper colored with a little wobble I have just the place where I want to try them out. Vicki comes back looking refreshed and carrying in lunch from Amy's. I wave at Elmer as I leave, he has eight shiners picked out so far.

The hike back up the trail is a lot slower then the hike coming down the trail. Either it is getting steeper or I am getting older. As I pause just to take a pause I remember when we would run this very same trail, in the dark. Guess my legs and my eyes were better then. I continue on up the trail and can see Grace, Dan's dog sitting outside the ice storage building. Guess it is warm enough that she wants some of her ice she helped harvest this past winter. I make my way into the Lodge and grab the key. Going out to the building Grace is happy to see me. I unlock the door and she slides past me to grab a block and backs her way out the door and out of sight around the corner of the building. I put the lock back on and make sure it clicks. Grace will be back to check it later I am sure.

Going back in the Lodge I see Chuck has Mark's attention at the end of the bar. Skinny and Hammering Hank are also standing alongside as Chuck is holding up his arms spread wide. I am guess he showing off the size of a fish that I know he has never caught but Mark does not know that. Poor Mark, he is going to hear a lot of stories this summer and like a lot of good bartenders he is a good listener so the guys will be bending his ear. I go to my office and grab my truck keys and slip out the back door of the Lodge. I have my rod in the back of the truck and there is a little spot I want to try on my way back to the cabin. From a really nice spring day here at Lake Iwanttobethere.

(39917)

May 30, 2008

A catch up day here at Lake Iwanttobethere. Already it is Friday and we are going into our 4th weekend of fishing. At this rate summer is going to be over before we know it. Like most people here at the lake I still have a snow shovel just inside the garage door, just in case. And the winter parka is still in the front closet. Have not come even close to eighty yet and summer won't be here till you can go to the local Dairy Queen and have to work at licking your cone before it melts in your hand. A heavy fog here on shore and out over the water. Can't see if anyone is fishing because you can hardy see much past the dock. Out on Root Beer Island the buoy can just be heard clanking away in the small waves. I think they have the lights on at the bait pier, at least it looks a little brighter on that end of the island. Had to roll the garbage can down to the end of the drive this morning and was just about clipped by a gray pick up truck hauling a trailer. Fog so thick you can't see but this guy had no lights on. Why is it that when people who drive with out lights in fog or rain always seem to own gray or white cars? Might be the same people who run their boats on the lake with no lights on. Are they worried they are going to burn out the bulbs or something?

Fog is starting to burn off some here now as I just checked. Grass is soaking wet as it rained most of the night and it being only forty five out I will be working on the Honey Do List inside. Funny how that list has kept growing as the days have gone by. Had all the kids up for the holiday weekend and I assigned jobs to everyone. I do know the boys cleaned out the fridge in the garage and all the aluminum cans went down to Mike's scrap yard. Got some city beer in there that they brought up. Not to my liking but if it gets hot enough outside, say over sixty I might be able to drink it then. Grand kids fishing rods need some work as I was in the boat house and I see there are the remains of worms on hooks that have dried up and need to be cleaned off. Best I take the reels apart and do some cleaning. New line might be a good idea to. Was on the list to power wash the dock and lounge chair off and I see that did get done. Something I can check off the do list.

The go cart which has now grown into a guy cart is getting closer to being completed. The sons started welding a frame up this winter, going to make a go cart for the grand kids. It has now evolved into a adult cart with a forty horse snow machine engine on it. Suspension and four chrome wheels. It is hidden up here so it will remain a surprise for Sheriff Tim. Dug I am sure has something in mind for the 4th of July go cart races. Already there have been some changes made to it like the roll cage and a seat belt. When everyone is here on the weekend most of the guys can be found standing around talking about it or looking at it but no one is working on it.

Should be mowing the lawn but it's to wet and with the lake rule about no lawnmowers on the weekend I guess it will just have to wait till next week. Something else I can mark off on the do list. I have volunteer to cook supper on Thursday nights. Down at the Sundown Cafe they are offering a twelve leg chicken for takeout for only six bucks. I picked one up last night and some salad from over at Amy's and I had a hot meal for the wife when she came home from work. Not to mention left overs today for me. I don't know where the rest of the chicken went. If it has twelve legs who knows what that that bird looks like!

Resorts are busy around the lake, not quite full but still you see a lot of rental boats out on the lake. Friday and the pontoons should be out cruising tonight, unless it is raining. Looks like some more showers here on Saturday and then Sunday should be a nice day. Sunny and humid with not to much wind. Have not had very many nice days at all so far and some of them have been spoiled by the brisk winds. With Windy the windmill in full operation we tend to pay more attention to the wind now. It is nice being on this end of the lake and be out on the water and watch and see which way Windy is pointed. If the weather stays the same today I am going to guess the Lodge will be busy tonight. Should be some stories told as we will be telling true tales of our fishing and we need to finish off the kegs so fresh ones can be tapped for the month of June. Or at least that will be our excuse.. From Lake Iwanttobethere (40333)

May 31, 2008

Well when guys gather at a local drinking establishment, such as the Lodge. Stories will be told and challenges issued. Last night at the Lodge somehow that wonderful game of golf was brought up. Today I found myself as a judge at our local golf course as Chuck, Elmer and Gerry had followed up on last nights discussion of who was better with a round of golf today. Trouble was no one had gone home to bed and we had come directly from the Lodge to here. Well we did stop and have some breakfast at the Sunshine Cafe. We split one of them eleven egg omelet's four ways. Adding a loaf of toast and a couple of pots of coffee we were ready. Everyone had their clubs down in the locker room at the Lodge so we loaded up Elmers truck and Chuck had to ride in back.

We arrived at the golf course well before it was open but Elmer knew where the keys are for the propane golf carts and we selected two of them that had already had the snow chains removed. There was a nasty smell in the air and I could not tell if it was the propane or the eleven egg omelet going through Elmer. After changing up partners I rode with Gerry. Well the contest was pretty simple, I would be the Judge and would not play. The three guys were going to play on the four point system. Longest drive, first on the green, closet to the hole and then first in. A pretty simple golf contest. However there needed to be some handicapping done. Gerry could only play with one club so he had brought his five iron. Elmer could not use the same club twice on a hole and had to start with his putter and Chuck had to walk carrying his bag and was not allowed to drink any beer.

Since our local golf course is far from being a country club and is but six holes we need to move tees around in order to make it play into a nine or even eighteen hole course. Today's contest was to be eighteen holes but after breakfast and the promise of a sunny day ahead it was decide that nine should be enough. Since I was the Judge I got to determine the lay out of the golf course and the hole selection. The first tee was right at the driveway into the course and I selected a pin setting that was 200 yards away directly into the rising sun. The order of tee off had been selected the night before in a timed Hamms drinking contest. Gerry stepped to the tee with his five iron and launched his first shot skyward. Where all of us lost it in the sun. A moment later we heard the ball bouncing off the metal roof of the storage building before falling into the water trough, sometimes known as a water hazard. Elmer taking out his putter drove the ball off the tee 30 yards and returned with his signature comment " Not far, but straight" Chuck addressed his ball and after a long conversation replaced it with another. The first ball had not answered him and he was looking for the right ball. As judge I stepped in and order him he had to hit and stop talking. Using a five wood he sent the ball high and far straight up to land just short of Elmers ball.

About an hour or so later we arrived on the first green. Elmer was complaining of a queasy stomach and I swear one of the golf carts was leaking propane badly. Chuck had just finished making the walk up the fairway and my stroke clicker stopped working after a hundred clicks. Gerry had drained the water from the trough and had used his sand wedge to rattle the ball around the trough several times before finally getting out. It should be noted that he was now walking with a limp as he had hit his ankle a few times trying to get out of the water hazard. Chuck had a moment of excitement as he rolled his ball into the box where you control the water for the sprinklers. Reaching in he found a snake and neither one liked what the other saw. In the moment he tossed his club in to the brush and held onto the snake. Trying to put the snake back in his bag he realized his mistake. He waited ten minutes before going back to get his bag.

Well the sun was up a littler higher and the kid working the golf course and come in on his bike and was opening the clubhouse. Guess he noticed the missing carts and was yelling something in our direction about calling the sheriff. No one was actually on the green yet and there was talk of calling it a draw and perhaps taking this to the water as a fishing contest where it was safer. It was agreed on and later today we would all meet at the Lodge, have a beer or two and discuss the rules. From a early morning, or is a just a late night here at Lake Iwanttobethere (40448)

June 3, 2008

Well Sunday night found me a still judge in the golf contest that had now turned into a fishing contest. I arrived before the guys at a distant landing here on Lake Iwanttobethere and decide that I might as well do some fishing before they arrived. Since I have been busy I have not been on the water as much as I like to. I thought this would be a good time for a shake down cruise of the Puddle Humper. After leaving the cabin and driving around the lake the sky started turning gray and the wind picked up some. I had the baseball game on the radio and it was broken up with static from distant lightning strikes. Arriving at the landing I found a big hole dug out in the center and had to back the trailer around to get to the actually landing. As soon as I turn the key to the Dodge off it started raining. Since I was there I was going to wait the rain out. I went back to listening to the baseball game and blew some smoke rings with my cigar.

After a delay the rain stopped and I backed the Puddle Humper into the water. Parking the Dodge I made my way back to the boat and shoved off. Drifting away from the shore is when I first noticed my first skeeter. Bug spray was back in the truck and I was already on my way so I just figured I would do with out. Bought a new reel over the winter for my buzz baits. I had already put some of that 30# braided line on it and I made a few casts to see how it works. I liked it right away. Hardly any effort to keep the buzz bait on the surface and that is when I had my first snarl. Well It took me a few minutes to pick the backlash apart and I went back to casting only to do it again. After the third time I cut the line and decide I had over filled the spool. I had about fifty feet of line out and like I always to I just wrapped it around the palm of my hand and worked the buzz bait back in. That is when I noticed that with that new braided line it does not just slip off your hands when wrapped around. As a matter of fact it does not stretch any either. My finger tips were turning color while I looked for the dropped scissors. Do you know it is hard cutting with your left hand line that is wrapped around your right hand?

Well I got the line off and then cut the buzz bait off the end. Of course it fell hitting the gunnel and bounced into the water. I fished that back out of the lake and then retied it to the now shorten line on the reel. Having drifted back towards the shore line I took out my push pole and leaning into it to moved the boat out into deeper water. But not before I broke the end of the pole off and almost took a swim. Yup, this was going to be a good night I thought to myself. I tossed a spinner bait for awhile while I was waiting for the guys who had still not shown up and I got one bite or perhaps it was a weed. Then with the storm still moving off to the North I found myself in a small cove with some slack water. I had a devil horse on a spinning rod and I flicked it towards shore. The first ring from the splash had made it out but a few feet when it was blasted by a small bass. In the boat he came and I was right back out with the devil horse. A few casts later and I had boated four small bass. All tight up next to the old bull rushes. Well you don't have to hit me twice to figure out that I had already found fish, they were up tight to shore.

They were small ones and a few sunfish also got into the act and went after the devil horse. I move to the next cove over and caught a few more, these were good healthy pounders who hit like junior high school linebackers. You could see them coming from a long ways away as they would smash the lure and all I had to do was set and grin to myself as I reeled them in. Well so much for being a judge I was fishing. The number ten fish was a two and half pounder and made the drag talk, one of my favorite sounds. I took a picture and slipped her back in the water. Ten fish in just over an hour this was getting to be a good evening. No more mishaps the rest of the evening, I kept catching fish and as the night went on they seem to get bigger. Most were right around two pounds and all of them had a chip on there shoulder when they hit the lure. I got back into water that I had not fished for several years as the lake level is up and with the late spring the green of weeds is way behind schedule. If I had not broken the end of the push pole off I saw some water that looked real good to go back into. Will have to save it for another day. I did have one regret and that was the forgotten bug spray. Fishing close to shore I sure did attract the skeeters. And I got buzzed a few times by some red winged black birds who thought I was getting to close to there property. But the end of the night I had boated twenty one bass and three small northerns. The devil horse had caught them all and was showing the wear. Some of the paint had been knocked off right to the primer and the hooks were all bent out of shape. With the sun setting in the tree tops I decide to call it a night and get off the water before the sketters got really bad. I motored to the landing and a saw a few splashes and could not resist tossing the devil horse out for just one more bass, maybe. I had already decide I was going to retire this lure after tonight.

Drifting in to shore I saw a swirl up ahead and lofted a perfect cast right on top of the widening ring. I gave the lure a twitch and had a solid smack, a set and the zing of broken line coming back at me. Pushed my luck and some northern just made lunch of my lure. I put the rod down and tossed the buzz bait in a half hearted attempt to get the northern to hit again. Decided to call it a night and turn to head to the landing when I heard a fish jump behind me and the tell tale noise of the props on the devil horse. I turn and there floating on the calm waters was the battered lure. I made a circle and plucked the lure from the water. It was still going to get retired after all. From Lake Iwanttobethere (41246)

June 5, 2008

Just getting quiet here at the Lodge. Sun went down a few hours ago and that half hour just as the sun starts to hit the trees it is down right noisy out. Baseball game was over with and all the chairs out on the deck here had someone in them. Few fires in the fire pits down at the access and a few campers were calling it a night and lights were blinking out. Been another day where you might have thought it was late September. The bass thermometer never got up much pass fifty or so and the wind was a constant visitor. Few boats were out on the lake, mostly tourist I think as the locals tended to just fish from their docks on a day like this. A few rain showers came and went just dropping enough water to get ya damp and to make small puddles on your chairs. With sundown the peepers started to sound off and a few geese kept doing a circle over the top of the Lodge. After making some controlled crash landings a pair of loons were just off Root Beer island and their lonely calls echoed back across the water. Gulls have already come through early in the evening working there way across the softball field, picking and cleaning. Spending a lot of time around the dug outs checking cracks between the cider blocks for French fries that the softball team hides and pulling off gum stuck to benches.

Couple of guys came in an old red lund and loaded up on their trailer. They then pulled over to the converted ice shanty now fish house cleaning station and we could hear them talking loudly all the way up here on the Lodges deck. Sounds like they might have caught a few and fish for dinner was a likely event. They turned off the lights and drove away leaving a trail of water behind them from their trailer. About then the lake went calm as it always tends to do with the sun setting over the trees. Lights from cabins came on and the occasional kush of a can being open can be heard across the water. Some low laughter and a few barking dogs and then just quiet and the humm of skeeters in the background is all that can be heard. After a while even the humm is gone and you just hear night sounds. Bull frogs and maybe the last bird flying by heading to roost. Next sound of summer will be crickets and more often then not some will be inside the Lodge driving Elmer crazy while he tries to watch the evening news. Bats will soon follow and then with any luck them warm nights of summer. So hot you have to open all the windows and hope for a breeze to move some air around. The ten o'clock freight will weave it's way around the far side of the lake and with the windows all open in the cabin the sound will carry it's way through. You will sit still or lay quiet in your bed straining to hear the last of the train and then the quiet will fill in behind it.

If Spring took her sweet time in getting here Summer is in no hurry either. Lilacs are just now filling out here and corn is just starting to pop up in my garden. Grass is growing thick and tall and if it stops raining I might even get a chance to mow it. Puddle Humper has her batteries all charged and rods and tackle boxes are onboard and ready. Been helping Hammering Hank on a deck job for a new resident of the lake the past few days. Looking to retire here on the lake he wants to connect everything with wood. From the cabin to the garage and and around to both porches. Be able to walk in his stocking feet and not get his toes wet. When it is done I think there will be enough room for his grand kids to have big wheel races on it. Come morning we will have to head to the lumber yard and pick up another load of decking. Bright and early we will of course stop at Amy's for some hot rolls right out of the oven. Since I am working so hard and it has been so cool I think I'll get two of the hot cinnamon buns. I'll work them off during the day I am sure.

Sunshine Ray has rain in the forecast everyday for the next week. Means things will stay cool and fishing might be tough. Tuff on the guys who are here on vacation. They will still be out on the water fishing because if you go on vacation to fish you take what every the weather gives ya. Lunch hour may get a little longer and you might even take an afternoon nap. Maybe give up on that early morning fishing till after breakfast. Let the sun come up a little higher in the sky and if you are lucky it will get through the clouds. Still if you are on vacation and fishing you will make the best of it. But you can't catch fish if ya don't go fishing and to many fish have been caught on them rainy days because someone was at the right place at the right time. Somewhere right now, someone is catching fish here at Lake Iwanttobethere (42477)

June 6, 2008

It is a small world. Work day was cut a little short as Hammering Hank and I spent time on the deck we are building. We had to bring in yet another load of wood from the mill and for some reason this one felt pretty heavy. Maybe because we are getting a day older everyday but them boards don't seem to be any lighter. Anyway late in the afternoon it started to drip some after threating for the past few days. We should have known it was going to happen as the sound of lawnmowers running echoed around the lake most of the day. People were getting their cutting in before the rains fell. Smell of BBQ was also in the air and more then a few locals had a rod resting in a holder and a red and white bobber drifting out front of their docks. Hammering Hank left with the first drop of rain as he was to pick up chicken and make supper for his wife Tess. I spent some time in the garage with the doors open and exchanged some stories with Rich the owner of the cabin. Rich it turns out is a good listener which is a good thing with me as I am a good talker. After a few hours of stories I invited him to come on down to the Lodge and have a Hamms, he jumped at the chance I must say as soon as I told him we had Hamms on tap.

A few minutes later he was perched at the end of the bar and I poured a cool beer from the land of sky blue waters, Hamms.... me being on the other side of the bar Rich started talking and I started listening. Half way through his first story I interrupted him and waved at the Johnson brothers, Barley and Hopps who were just coming in the Lodges door. I introduced them to Rich and told them both that Rich here used to work In St. Paul... At the Hamms brewery there! Taking the chairs next to Rich the questions started flying from the boys, Another man of beer. I left to answer the phone as they were discussing copper kettles and Friday the cleaning day and all you can drink lunches.

Afternoon baseball game was already over and Elmer was in the wicker couch dozing, the TV tuned to the weather channel. That satellite TV we got and the wireless Internet connection for the two lap tops is working out nicely. Some people are complaining a little about the chain from the lap tops to the cinderblocks but we were told that we should do that so they don't get misplaced. The cinder blocks were Skinny's idea as we did the same with the key to the women's washroom. Not many ladies use the Lodges washroom after we added the cinder blocks. Works real well down at the Gas N- Go where Skinny got the idea. Coney sauce was still hot in the crock pot so I grabbed some buns and hot dogs and made myself a few for supper. I headed back towards the brothers and Rich and as I ate the Conies I listen to guys talking the trade of beer. Guess there is a lot of taste testing in the world of beer and it is like a requirement of the job. From time to time I moved down the bar to pour a beer or open up the jar of pickled pigs feet and eggs. Few Lodges members were complaining about the weather and looking over the map of Lake Iwanttobethere on the hall wall. Not a lot of grease pencil marks on it and the fishing board is not as full as it usually is this time of year.

Wind has picked up and Gus came out from the kitchen with his apron on and was calling it a night. He went over to the fireplace and stirred the coals some and added a few chucks of birch from the wood box. The flames crackled and a few guys moved closer to the fire and stretched out in it heat. Been a strange cool Spring and there was still a chill in the air even with the first week of June already coming to an end. More then a few coughs were heard as already some summer colds are here or late spring ones are still hanging on. Looks like the Lodge is going to be quiet tonight. Most of the guys should be closing up shop and coming in for a night cap but looks like they are headed home instead. Guess a little rain is going to keep them away. One lonely trailer is parked at the access and I think that is the same one that was there last night. More then likely someone trailer a boat into use at one of the resorts. Well looks like more rain in store for us here at the lake. Even here we get days that are just not made for fishing. Elmer is up from his couch and now he to has joined the conversation with Gus and Rich and the Johnson brothers. Beer, who would think it could bring so many guys together! From Lake Iwanttobethere.. 43814

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Fishin report for Lake Iwanttobethere..

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