Apparently, it’s just me not seeing nearly as many crows in the past year. Several of you have said you’ve been seeing a lot of them.

I do hunt them occasionally in late winter so hopefully I’ll see more this winter than I did last winter.

One thing that I’ve found interesting about crows is that in spite of them being intelligent birds, they are not shy of the blinds I occasionally use for turkey hunting. I can set up a hub blind in the middle of an open field and the crows will fly right over it and even land within shotgun range of it. I would think they they’d veer clear of it. Or maybe they’re so smart that they know they never get shot at when they are near these blinds so they’ve learned that they pose no danger.

Sad deal for sure. I’ve been jogging around Markgrafs and Powers lakes in Woodbury for lots of years. As mentioned above, it’s not uncommon for the geese to keep a small section of water open on the north end of Markgrafs. Based on the busted up and now refrozen ice on the north end, it appears that’s where they broke through the ice and the rescue boat traveled to reach them. I hadn’t been around Markgrafs in a couple of weeks so I can’t say for sure the geese had kept a section open on the north end, but most years they do.

I also jogged around Powers lake in Woodbury this morning and there’s several hundred geese keeping an area on the southeast part of the lake open. Once it gets cold enough to force the geese to move, that section will freeze over. But it will be thin ice for a while, while the rest of the lake will have safe ice. Scary situation for sure.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you hit a red channel marker what was still attached to the chain and submerged just under the surface. I seem to recall seeing a partially submerged red can just downstream from Lions after the floods receded this summer. It was on the channel edge just above a floating red can that was positioned where it should be.

I’ve seen a handful of cans like that over the years on P2 and P3. They’re scary for sure. It’s funny… sometimes they’ll bob above and below the surface for a few minutes and then for the next several minutes they’ll be totally submerged. The high water this summer moved a bunch of cans out of position.

PM Sent

Alex Fox wrote:

Went out Sunday morning. The north end was still 68 to 69 degrees. Marked lots of fish, still not much happening. The bait shop lady actively tried to talk us out of fishing lol. Everyone I talked to said the bite is super slow.

Is this mainly pertaining to walleye? What about fishing smallmouth with suckers? I was planning to fish smallmouth with suckers later this week but if the water is still too warm and the bite is dead, I might wait until I make the trip.

I know you asked about 6-7 passenger SUVs, but have you considered a crew cab truck with a front bench seat? I previously owned three Honda Pilots and was looking to get another a couple of years ago, but the new Pilots seemed so small. And has been mentioned, the 3rd row has no leg room and is only designed for small children. I ended up buying a used Ram 1500 with a crew cab that has a front bench seat. It seats 6 comfortably. I see the new models list the fuel economy as 19/24 mpg. I really don’t see many downsides of a truck vs. an 6-7 passenger SUV other than the larger size if you are garage space limited and slight lower gas mileage. The up sides are plenty of interior room, plenty of cargo space even with the smaller beds compared to SUVs, and plenty of towing power. I guess that’s why you see so many trucks around these days.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Tell us you haven’t looked at the price of land lately without telling us you haven’t looked at the price of land lately.

Hi Jay,

I haven’t looked at the price of land lately.

Wow. Based on a quick search, I’m shocked at the prices. Are sellers really getting that much? How much more would you say SE Minnesota land sells for than land in north central Minnesota land?

Ultimately, I would think ag land prices would be driven by the cost of finance and commodity prices. I think corn is under $4/bu now. If you’re able to get 250 bu/acre, that’s $1000/acre. What are input costs? Maybe $400-500/acre? I really don’t know. What land price can that profit support? Maybe non-tillable timber land is a lot more valuable than crop ground.

I wonder if land prices are in some type of bubble.

Maybe a little off topic, but why would a guy buy deer hunting property two hours north of the Twin Cities instead of going two hours in the other direction to southeast Minnesota? Is land just that more expensive in SE Minnesota than north central Minnesota? I see the benefits of SE Minnesota over northern Minnesota as:
1. Far more deer.
2. Bigger bucks.
3. No wolves
4. Agriculture country so there’s amply food year-round.
5. No winter kill.
6. Probably better hunting for other game such as turkey, squirrels, furbearers, etc.

I think the same would apply to west central or southwest Wisconsin. Nonresident deer tags are readily available for Wisconsin unlike Iowa. Even if the price per acre in SE Minnesota was double that of north central Minnesota, you could buy half as much land and see and shoot far more deer.

I ended up getting my daughter a used Mission Switch bow for her summer birthday instead of Christmas. It was in excellent condition and came with a release, sight, whisker biscuit rest, quiver, five arrows, and a stabilizer. I adjusted the draw length and the draw weight. The draw weight is about 30 pounds and she could probably go higher. It might be best to take it into an archery shop and have them set it up for her, but for starters she did okay with the adjustments I made and had fun shooting it.

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It looks like a lot of these fryers have 1700-1800 watt heating elements. According to the chart I have, an 1800 watt heater draws 15 amps at 120 volts. Nearly all the outlets in my house are rated for 15 Amps. It looks like an 1800 watt heater would be pushing the circuit to its limit, and above the limit if there’s anything else drawing power from the circuit. Has anyone had problems with tripping the circuit breakers when using these fryers? Maybe the 15 amp circuits have a built-in safety factor. I know at the industrial building where I work, we’re only allowed to draw 80% of the rated circuit amperage.

I’m thinking about getting an electric fryer for better temperature control of the oil. I’ve been having trouble getting the oil too hot when using my propane fryer. It seems like with my propane fryer and I can keep the oil temperature around 350-375 F but if I step away for a moment, it can jump above 400 F real quick and then it seems the oil gets dark and is ruined.

Thanks for the information. I’ll have to remember those beaches are above water when it’s 681 at Stillwater. I put the jet ski in at Wind Mill in Afton on Thursday for my daughter and she cruised up to one of the Hudson islands and swam for a bit and hung out on the beach.
She needs to practice backing up the jet ski trailer so she doesn’t need me to when she wants to take the jet ski out.

I guess I don’t believe GPS is off by 15 feet. When I’m in the boat on the Mississippi and the mapping chip shows wing dams as gray bars, when I drive over the gray bars, the side imaging and depth pretty much correspond exactly. And GPS is accurate enough to show what lane you’re in when you’re driving on the roads. Tractors can plant fields running off GPS. I see bulldozers that have GPS receivers on each edge of the blade, although I believe those may be running off a local, enhanced signal. So, the long answer is, I trust the GPS to be accurate.

Hi Jimmy,

I’m curious where you get your blanks? That blank looks similar to a Rapala DT. And what do you think about the quality of the blanks? How would you say they compare to high quality, name-brand crank baits like Rapala?

Your paintings look like works of art.

Thanks for the clarifications, Justin. I don’t fish tournaments so I’m not up on the details for culling, party fishing, Minnesota vs Wisconsin regulations, etc. It just seemed strange to me that they could only have four with one over 20″, but I I understand it a lot more now. I also understand the argument that it takes skill to get the “right” fish. But to me, allowing just four fish total with only one over 20″ seems lame. If the pros are skilled enough to catch the “right” fish, they should be skilled enough to put the co-angler on a fish over 20″.

Justin Laack wrote:

I think it was to make it more competitive along with it being a no cull event. When the schedule was first announced for Red Wing it was also going to be limited to only Minnesota waters. Enough anglers scrutinized the NWT’s decision and that changed it to both minnesota and wisconsin waters.

I don’t know how not being able to bring in two over 20″ makes it more competitive. Maybe every angler gets a participation trophy. I understand the no-cull rule since I think that’s general state fishing regulations.

I remember some discussions a while back about it only being Minnesota waters. That would really be weird on the river.

Do odors count as landmarks? The rendering plant is South Saint Paul is really nasty if the wind is blowing over the river.

The High Bridge just upstream from downtown St. Paul is pretty cool.

Don’t underestimate the value of getting enough sleep. As people age, getting a good amount of good sleep becomes more difficult. Many people have undiagnosed sleep apnea which prevent a good night’s sleep. I seem to eat more when I’m tired. It seems my body confuses tiredness with hunger.

I had noticed my dentist slowly gaining weight over the years. Then within the span of about year, I think he lost 87 pounds. He said after he had a sleep study and got a CPAP machine, the pounds just came off… and they’ve stayed off. He said he feels so much better getting a good night’s sleep and being at a healthy body weight.

I was in the same situation as you a couple of years ago. I purchased a Yamaha Waverunner EX Sport from RiverValley in Red Wing. I see they show them in stock for about $9,100. I think a nice, aluminum trailer will add about another $1,500. I was looking for used, but two years ago, prices for used were not discounted enough vs. new.

The EX Sport is actually rated for 3 people so you can have two on the Waverunner and also tow a tube. The EX Sport is at the low end of the Yamaha models but it’s everything I need in a jet ski. It’s plenty fast enough and weighs only about 543 pounds. Easily handles two riders. My boy and I (about 400 lbs) have both been on it and it pops right up on plane and cruises just fine. And the financing rates are pretty decent if you want to go that route. The Waverunners are four strokes. I’m not sure about the Sea Doos. And Yamahas, at least their outboards, have a great reputation for quality.

Just a FYI…When the water gets higher, the walkway to the dock at Lions does not reach dry land. So, you can either get your legs wet or bring high enough boots, waders, etc.

dirtywater wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Top of the ramp at Lions is about 10′ .

Sorry I don’t know what that means. Top of the ramp is 10 feet from the water? Water is 10 foot deep at the top of the ramp and docks are underwater?

The dock floats. When the water reaches the top of the ramp and starts to flood into the lower parking area, the City of St. Paul Park will barricade the road leading from the upper parking area to the lower parking area. I don’t know what gauge level that is. But if Lion Levee is closed, you can go to Willie marina/bar/grill and launch from there for a fee. I think it’s $10 and they have a pay box somewhere. Last year during high water I did that, and they have you launch where they drop the house boats in on the upstream side of the property.

I think the St. Croix No-Wake kicks in when the level at Stillwater is 684 or higher. I saw the crest at Stillwater was forcasted for 681.7 so you should be good to go.

Yesterday, in Woodbury, I saw a hen mallard swimming with three ducklings on a little storm water pond by Powers Lake. They were just little fuzz balls. I was really surprised to see ducklings so early. I thought the hens were probably just starting in incubate eggs about now, but she must have started about a month ago.

Do you LockTite when reinstalling the caliper pins?

buckybadger wrote:

I haven’t followed closely enough to have all the facts…but questions I have that if answered would help decide my hypothetical jury vote:

1. Did the suspect approach the group (or their area), leave after verbal confronation, and THEN come back with the knife?

2. At what point was the lady stabbed? What was her role in it?

3. Are there any character references/criminal actions related to this guy previously? I get that this was a traumatic experience to everyone involved, but man the footage of him in the squad car fairly relaxed presenting himself as a confused, uninvolved bystander is awfully suspicious.

4. Who made the first verbal contact with the other party? The supsect to the victims or vice-versa?

5. Who made the first deliberate physical contact with the other party? The suspect to the victims or vice-versa?

6. How much time elapsed from the first person being stabbed and the last?

Another question I would have is related to the number of people that were stabbed and how many people actually had physical contact with Miu. It appears that Miu was slapped and pushed down once or twice. So, assume for agreement’s sake, that there were three people that physically contacted him. But five people were stabbed. Are you allowed to stab people in self-defense that did not physically assault you but were just in the vicinity? Is it known if the deceased had any physical contact with Miu? If not, it seems like the jury should find Miu guilty of at least two counts of attempted murder or some type of assault charge, or murder if the deceased had no physical contact with Miu. Or maybe all five people that were stabbed did have physical contact with Miu before being stabbed.

Here’s how I’ve made some glitter jigs using powder paint and glitter.
1. Heat the unpainted jigs in a small toaster oven.
2. Grab the shank of hook with a nip nose pliers and dip it into the powder paint. Adjust the temperature of the oven so that the powder paint melts and sticks to the jig but not so hot that too much powder melts onto the jig. If you get too much paint on the jigs, the paint will drip-off during the post-painting curing step.
3. After pulling the jig out the powder paint, immediately stick it in the glitter. Or you can dip your finger tips into the glitter and then squeeze the jig between your finger and thumb. The glitter will stick to your finger tips. The trick is to squeeze the glitter into / onto the paint before it cools too much and hardens. This embeds the glitter into the paint and locks it in place. Note: The color of the base paint will affect the resulting color of the glitter jig. I use purple paint for purple glitter and white paint for silver glitter. You can experiment to get differnt hues.
4. After the jig cools brush any loose glitter off and remove any paint from the eye of the jigs. Do this before curing the jigs as it will be more difficult after the paint is cured.
5. I hang the jigs on the racks in a regular oven and cure them at 300-350 F. fpr about 30 minutes. This does not harm or melt the glitter. Place some foil under the jigs in case any paint drips from the jigs.
Note: It takes a bit of trial-and-error to find the right temperature for the toaster oven. The temperature will also depend a bit on the size of the jig, how fast you move it from the oven to the paint, and also the particular jar of paint. My powder paints seem to have some variability in their melting point and viscosity of the molten paint.
I’ve purchased my glitter from Hobby Lobby or Micheals craft stores. There are different sized glitter particles. I prefer medium size particles.

Thanks for the information guys. My daughter is 18 year old so she’s done growing. She told me she’s 5’5″. I’d say she’s got average strength for her height and age. Maybe Musky Ed’s bow would be a good option for her. After searching on-line, it seems like Diamond bows by Bowtech has a line of entry bows in the $350-450 range for a basic package. Thanks again for everyone’s advice.

buschman wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Mike W wrote:</div>
Lions can ice in early but this mild fall doesn’t seem like enough to freeze it up yet.

You can get out yet but will be busting ice. Dan said there was about an inch to break a couple days ago. With zero flow back there right now I would plan on 494 moving forward.

Yes, I launched at Lions Wednesday evening and the ice was pretty thick. One boat had busted a path before me so that helped but coming back in a few hours later things had solidified up pretty good again. With an overnight low of 20 F last night, I’m sure the ice is even thicker now. Save yourself the hassle and just use 494. I think Lions is done until spring.

Steve Root wrote:

So anyone experiment with two lines?

While my partners were pitching cranks on the wing dams, I was pitching Dubuque rigs with a jig and plastic for the dropper and a sucker minnow or stick bait on the trailer. I never caught a fish on the trailer all day. But typically during the summer months when I’m using a crawler or leech on the trailer, that’s where I catch 75% of my fish. My partners out fished me 2:1 or better using cranks.

Thanks Mike and Jon for running the contest and thanks to the sponsors for the door prizes. We caught about 15 walleye total. We trolled some sand and rocks and also pitched cranks and plastics on wing dams.

Here’s the fish photos from the second place team of Matt Moen, Jason Papenfuss, and Dan Zillig.

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