First off, I have a new job. I currently work for a prairie restoration company in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, and have quit my previous job at a property management group. All days I've had in the past 2 weeks have been entirely outside, with the exception of 2 very rainy, windy days when we could not burn. My job for the next month or so will be helping with prescribed burns, chemical application, weed control, and explaining to people that I am not spraying for mosquitoes, and not everything in the plot of land I'm walking is weeds. Ignorance of native plantings is a daily occurrence, and this public outreach is, for me, the most important part of my job. Burning is every bit as fun as I expected it to be!
Needless to say, my new job is one of the best places to learn some of these outdoors skills I've wanted for so long. Everybody who works there does so because they love being outside as much as I do. In general, they're much MUCH better at fishing, hunting, plant identification, and the like. I've learned a metric ton since I started, and the pace is increasing with every bit I learn!
Non-fishing related, I purchased the last pair of boots I hope to buy in 3 years: a pair of Redwing full leather uppers with a steel toe. We'll see how that goes; breaking them in took a week of wearing around the house, and I'm not entirely sold on the steel toe thing yet.
At a Minnetonka Parks site earlier this week, I saw my first morel mushroom EVER! After work I came back, picked them, and brought them home. When I pulled up, I put one in the woods near our property, and brought the other to my Britney spaniel, Bailey (a trained bird dog). 45 seconds of training later, she sprinted right to where I had hidden the mushroom earlier, so I now own a morel-sniffing dog. I hope to have a little fun with that later this week if I'm not burning until 8pm every day!
Now for the fishing news!
Ice fishing has come and gone, and my patience with learning to fish for crappies paid off. Late season is when I really started to shine, and much of it was due to a spring bobber you can see on the main image at http://www.stcroixrods.com/product/legend_ice_rods . I decided to ignore Minnetonka, considered by many to be the premier crappie lake near Minneapolis' western suburbs for one big reason. The lake is monstrous in terms of places to fish. A spot can look promising but hold no fish, while identical spots across the lake could be holding them. I don't own a snowmobile, 4wheeler, or truck, and loading my equipment into my Trailblazer whenever I want to move across the lake got old, fast. Medicine lake, Parker's Lake, and Gleason Lake were my go-to spots, and I was able to consistently produce! Jigging spoons, at least for me, seemed to be overrated on these smaller lakes, especially on late-ice with a few noticeable exceptions. A tiny white spoon with an attached red flipper worked wonders for me on all lakes for all sizes of panfish. After I was tired of dinking around with rattle-spoons, tiny jigheads with mock-insects, or just plain ice jibs with waxies, this lure was what I used. Sadly, a big-mouth billy bass took my baby from me about a week ago, and I'm on a search to find someone online who carries these things!
I did take one quick overnight trip up to Mille Lacs this year for jumbo perch. It was brutally cold (-5), but I was able to get the jumbos to bite, however slowly. This trip truly revolutionized fishing for me. It was the first time I decided to be TRULY mobile, and every fish I pulled out of a hole that day was within 1 minute of dropping the line in. Covering lots of ground, and targeting only active fish (those that come up and look at your bait the moment you drop it down) was the ticket. After an unproductive morning (only 2 jumbos), I donned all my clothing, started drilling, and started walking hole to hole to hole. Soon I caught fish after fish after fish. Go figure, I take my own advice, and it works! This just goes to show, movement is CRUCIAL to produce on picky fish.
This spring, after many many trips out catching (small) crappies, I decided I needed a change of pace. On the main lake of Minnetonka, there was still sheets of ice, but on tiny bays and marinas down in Wayzata, ice was off near the first of April. My arms ached for a stronger fish, and with the statewide opener over a month away, I took a quick run to the Coon Rapids Dam with a friend for crappies, and when they didn't bite, things got drastic. We walked into the woods, kicked up some dirt, grabbed some worms, and threw 'em in the slackwater. I am now an official rough-fish angler! After a night of catching sheepshead, small channel cats, and carp, I decided to re-rig one of my northern rods into a carp slaying machine!
For me, carp fishing was entirely new territory. I vaguely recall catching sea-lamprey covered carp on the Kettle River when I vacationed there with my family some decade and a half ago and had forgot it all. Carp fishing in Minnesota (but not Europe) is an EXTREMELY simple premise. Take the rig shown here to my right, throw out a little corn in a shallow bay, and wait! I keep my drag set extremely light on spinning reels so I can hear line going out, or keep the drag open on baitcasters with the clicker turned on. When you hear line going, pick up the rod, tighten the drag, feel for a fish, and if there nothing there, just wait for several minutes with your finger on the line. If you feel a fish, set the hook and get ready for a fight you haven't felt since pike fishing! I've had to wait hours for a fish when they're not biting much, so bring a book, a brew, or company.For a week or so, I caught, cleaned and collected carp meat (off those carp I caught under 8 lbs or so). After I had about 30 lbs of filets, I went to a college friend's house and learned how to use a smoker! Although smoked carp IS palatable, if I ever do it again I'll brine the fish for at least 24 hours in a brine heavy on spice and lighter on brown sugar than what I used. Although the carp I smoked wasn't bad with cheese and crackers, my dogs seem much more fond of it than I am, so smoked carp is now my default dog treat!
There are several more stories I've got, but I feel they warrant a post themselves. In the meantime, I'm getting my gear ready for an afternoon of pike fishing, and an evening of crappie fishing! Good luck out there!
