Friday Morning Rant! Minnesota Shuts Down?

 On Friday, 36,000 MINNESOTA  state employees will get layoff notices that could go into effect July 1 if the governor and Legislature do not agree to a two-year budget by then.Rumor has it the parks will be CLOSED for the weekend and the Zoo shut down for the  4th of July Weekend.  Every state seems to have there own case of mismanagement or political abuse laid upon their people. These politicians lie to us and we can not make informed decisions when we head to the poles. Could we ,the voter, be that far off the mark on all these politicians? Are we not doing are job as voters.Only time will tell......

Minnesota DNR SHUT DOWN

As of midnight, June 30, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will be shutdown due to a state budget impasse

ICE FISHERMAN WANTED Need some Followers !!!

I know there are some ice fisherman out there! I have opened a blog dedicated just to ice fishing. I will build content on the site as we approach the season and hopefully we can connect a group for an outing . If you know someone interested in ice fishing  could you send them our way.   Click on the link below. Thanks 

Hard H2O FISHERMAN

Bear Video Must See FUNNY!

Monday Morning Ponderism

Monday Morning Ponderism

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2.00 each on those little bottles of Evian water?

Try spelling Evian backwards: NAIVE

HAVE A GREAT MONDAY!

A Belated Fathers Day Present

Wow, It's been forever that my daughter asked to go fishing. Last time out we hammered the bluegills and she drove her brother absolutely crazy because she was catching all the fish. Call it lady luck or whatever you wan't she still likes to rub it in. Yesterday, we targeted bluegills in the slop on Lake Winnebago thinking post spawn. Well the water is cold and the gills moved into deeper water to make some beds. We had some drastic temperature change a few weeks back and the temps went from 96 to 56 in a three day period. This drove the fish out to more stable water.Small  Leeches and a tiny ice jigs did the trick. By the end of the day my daughter was baiting her own  hook and taking fish off. It was a great day on the water! We keep it very basic when bluegill fishing. Find the weed edge and a 13 foot cane pole will do the trick. Its just like fishing bass in the slop. Place your bait in weed pockets and hang on.   Today my son had the last laugh with a  trophy 10 inch bluegill but watching her catch a largemouth bass on a cane pole and 8 feet on line  was a riot!

Sunday Morning Flowers

Thought I'd pick you all some flowers this morning!
 Enjoy

Redington Pursuit Combo 5wt 9' Combo Product Review

Field and Stream had these written up in the March issue and I was in the market.Yes Sage owns Redington and this rod is made in China. I know this will knock the fly fishing elite off the backs of their chairs . How could I put such a thing in my hands ?It doesn't have to cost 1000 dollars to make it fishable or even quality  for that matter .China does make a few good things.... This fly rod is a little gem. I was excited to see the UPS man in the driveway and I went inside to open the box. I pulled it out and the first thing I notice is the great quality case that it comes in . It has a quality zipper and a cordura feel to the outside of the sturdy case . The rod has a beautiful finish and has dots so you can line the pieces up exactly . Now days, don't worry about 4 piece . They have it down to a science and it fits together great and they stay together. Remember casting your first Zebco rod section into the creek and reeling it in with the standard 14 pound test they provided?
The guides are the next thing I looked at and are very standard , nothing to jump up and down about but thats ok.  It  also comes with a anodized aluminum reel seat which is good for salt or fresh water.
 The Pursuit series reel  has a quality feel for the price. Nice hard finish on the outside of the reel  and a large arbor.It also can  easily  be switched to left or right handed .It has a great little drag on it and can be adjusted easily in the middle of a fish fight.

The combo has great feel to it and I could not believe  how good I could cast with it. Great tip action and the whole set up is very light for a long day on the water.   Price point, Sit down please . 179.00 shipped to your door. If your are a entry level fly fisherman this is a combo for you. It will handle any stream over in the Drifless area perfectly.  Heck if your a veteran angler you'll love it. I think I will go  now and try to hook up with a twenty pound carp and give it a real work out.  Pictures? Did you have a doubt?


http://www.redington.com/

Friday Morning Rant! THE NFL

Friday Morning Rant! The NFL

Its getting closer to a time where the NFL will not get a full season in if they

don't get it together.  I have had enough of the news media talking about Lebron and why he should have won the finals. I listen to sports talk radio while I'm at work and these radio jocks are hard up for news. Normally we have some training camp news,signings , injuries, etc to hear about but its been a long spring. Thank god  the Boston Bruins took it to game 7 or we would have more baseball and leftover basketball orts to listen upon.   I'll decide it  NFL and you can get on your way. SPLIT THE MONEY YOU GREEDY BASTARDS and be thankful you might  get 90 percent of your fans back. After all, with out us ,you have SQUAT .  The trout season closes in  late September here and it might be a long fall if this doesn't get wrapped up.  See you next Friday!

Monday Morning Ponderism

Before you eat breakfast.....

Ham and Eggs...Just a day's work for a chicken, but a 

lifetime commitment for a pig!

Crazy Stuff this Weekend! Father's day Flash Flood!

Another trout fishing vacation in the books and it just gets more eventful every time .I missed the Friday Morning Rant Post  but for good reason again, fishing trip! We caught plenty of trout and my sons friend Dan caught his first stream trout. We made it a mission to fish all new waters or sections so  we could keep learning the Driftless. Not an easy task when you have a first time trout fisherman along but he weathered it well . The real excitement happened about 3:00 am Sunday morning. We had to evacutate the campsite due to a flash flood. I never really slept Saturday night because of the rain hammering  on the trailer. The boys were in the tent and  called it a night and came to the trailer with wet sleeping bags at midnight.  By 3:00 I went out side and I watched my cooler float bye along with our firewood. I woke the boys and it was time to go.We threw what we could in the back of the truck and trailer and off we went.Lost a tent ,fry pan and a good pair of boots. About a dozen other campers followed in a panic.The road out of the campsite was littered with logs and boulders from the force of the water rushing into the lake below. We spent the night in a vacant parking lot where it was high and dry. My back is in knots from sleeping in the front seat of my truck. This is one the boys will never forget and neither will I.Here are some photos from the weekend

We fished this spot the day before

Monday Morning Ponderism

So from now on I give you a  Monday morning ponderism so you  have something to think of through the week  and on  Friday's I'll do my rant!  I'll start with a  simple,

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I'll squeeze these dangly things and drink whatever comes out?
Have a great week and we will see you Friday!

Friday Morning Rant! The Weather

Tuesday: 96 degrees   Friday 53: degrees

Where's my Rhuematis medicine ?

xxx

Climatologist say that  La Nina, a pacific ocean cooling  weather phenomenon, is over and the our weather patterns will get back to normal. This year we had an over active hurricane season and some of the worst stretches of tornadoes that I can remember,. Hopefully all will return to normal so America can pick up the pieces and move on. Well a nip of the Jug is in order .

So like my great  Irish doctor would say,

"A meal without whiskey is like a day without sunshine, except that on a day without sunshine you can still get 

drunk."

Bundle up

 and 

Don't drink and drive

Next week I promise to get back fishing and take some good photos. My camera is down and out and my real job has been calling. 

On the FENCE

One of  hardest  parts about being a  fisherman who write articles  for a blog  is when you have to make conservation decisions and it  has you fence sitting. Last week you read about my strong distaste for a water well in Crawford county, Wisconsin.  This week ,I want a oil pipeline . Call me what? Every name in the book you say! I guess many popular bloggers wouldn't touch this one with a ten foot pole for risk of being banished from their readers but I can't put my head in the sand on this.

 Keystone XL Pipeline ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline has me just in knots.Long story short, Its a pipe line from Canada through the US delivering more oil across our country .Of course the environmentalists want the President to veto this one  . On one hand, we need oil. Gas prices are on the verge of pushing us into a double dip recession. On the other hand, what is the environmental impact it has on our country? We have a push here for wind power. Its ok, if its Not in your back yard. If it is in your back yard its UGLY energy as well.They make terrible noise, and ruin the skyline. You will be hearing a lot about Normandy and their wind farms in days to come. Thats a whole other article which I will write nothing about.. .It might be a long term plan but we need  action now.

  People are going broke filling their gas tanks. They have no money to buy groceries .If you are commuting to work the cost of gas has you maybe breaking even. No one has extra money to join,contribute,support the clubs or other environmental efforts so these struggle too.  Here is a easy example to follow .People  crab about walleye tournaments on "THEIR " lake and the terrible impact they have on the local water. The very guys giving money to research, lake clubs and stocking programs are the tournament anglers, not the people screaming about 'THEIR " lake.We the tournament anglers, are broke, so the environment will suffer. When tournament numbers are down ,less money  is generated for the lake. Its a ugly truth.
Environmentalists just cant veto everything. If no one is making money the environment suffers too!
So, I'm Sorry if I offended any of my loyal trout fishing, environmental loving readers with my yearning for fossil fuels. I love the environment too, but I love to feed my kids and pay my bills and for that I will not apologize .

Hero of the Week! Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples

So after yesterdays  worm rant, I'm watching the morning news and I catch this news story and do a little investigation. This might be a little off of Frugal Fisherman material but our US Military is why we have freedoms to fish and enjoy the outdoors .Worms might be a little high priced but  America is a great place to live and don't you forget it .
Heres one reason  why.

 Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples

 One Tough Mother.
So Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples  is on leave and enjoying a little R&R and he decides to take his two boys fishing. He stops by the bank on his way and some piece of work decides to hold up the bank. Sgt. Peoples mind goes into action immediately and formulates a plan, building a fortress of chairs around his children.The robber comments about the big black guy better not try to  stop him. Well, it was the robbers unlucky day.As the robber tries to make his get-away Sgt. Eddie Peoples pins this guys car in the parking lot so he can't leave.A struggle ensues in the parking lot where the man is disarmed and wrestled  to the ground. The cops take the the robber into custody and ask Sgt. Peoples what he did to the guy. Apparently this tough guy, who pointed a gun at Sgt. Eddie Peoples two children,  POOPED HIS PANTS in the struggle.

."Compared to being in a war zone in the Middle East, thwarting the bank robber was "a piece of cake," Peoples said. Turns out the gun was fake. He told reporters that   this guy really pissed him off  when he pointed a gun at his sons.  Staff Sgt. Eddie Peoples is living proof that our military are some of the toughest SOBS on this planet. Helping America here and over seas.

Thank you   Sgt. Eddie Peoples for being and American hero! 

Friday Morning Rant ! 25 cents a piece for a night crawler!

OK, so this is my Friday morning rant! The kids went into Kwik Trip which is a local chain store in Wisconsin to get some worms. Every gas station here sells live bait because our town is situated on Lake Winnebago, one of the greatest walleye factories in the world. . Lack of rain and lots of fishing has my stash of worms on the low side. . The average kid can't even afford to  fish any more.  Most of the gas stations live bait customers are kids,after school, who are  in a rush to get to the shore fishing spot. I have been at places where they charge more but now its in my back yard.  I might have found a new boycott ! A gallon of gas is is not far off from a dozen worms? What went up to drive crawlers through the roof? They have jumped 50 per year for the last three years around here. Time to drive out the high price bait dealers and look to maybe start something local..

$3.01 per dozen