NKT,
My vote would also have to go for Mille Lacs. Your about
7 1/2 hours away from the lake from where your at. If your interested in a guide I’d check out Mcquoids on the S.E. side of the lake. I’ve never taken a guided trip from them, but I’ve heard lots of testimony and seen numerous pictures of some really huge smallies. Just a thought, maybe some of the locals from that area could comment on a guide service for you. Its a huge lake, and if your only going up for a few days, a guide might be a good idea even if its only for a half day.
SEDNERB

Bobber,
How long before these flies disappear? Are they for some reason attracted to white objects more than dark objects?
SEDNERB

Holy cow man,
We fished the past four days up there, and the inside of my boat looked like a slaughterhouse after is was all said and done. I had these things smeared on every imagineable part inside my boat, as well as my clothes. Every time you sat down you’d smush 10 or 15 flies. Seemed like if we had a breeze we were ok, but when it laid down here they came. Are they particularly bad this year, I don’t remember then being so terrible. Are these things here year round’, or are they only temporary?
SEDNERB

I’ve got a 2000 F-250 crew that has treated me really good so far. The only thing I didn’t like about the F-150 Crew was the lack of box space, other than that it looks like a great truck.
SEDNERB

Hey guys,
Well, that probably explains it. I’ve been using the yellow snaps, which do not have a pin through them. Now I know, and hopefully I don’t lose any more, cause they’re expensive as hell. Thanks guys.
SEDNERB

Herb,
Yup, that’s exactly the way I started mine. And yes, they are for surely huge gas consumers. I bought a newer boat this year with a 125 Mariner, and it delivers better gas mileage than the 90 horse did. Good motors though, that Evinrude never left me stranded.
SEDNERB

Thats the one Steve. The name of the holder is the “Rod Wrangler”, and you can find it at http://www.messengerboat.com. The cost is 90 dollars, but it looks like its well built and a little more user friendly than the ones from Cabelas. Now all I have to do is figure out a way to purchase it without my wife finding out. I guess it doesn’t really matter, she always seems to find out in the end anyway. This is how she looks when she finds out what I’ve spent “our” money on.
SEDNERB

If its a V-4 your probably going to have to live with it. I had a 87′ 90 horse Evinrude that ran in the exact way you described. Those motors were really popular back then, and you still see a-lot of them around today. Everyone I’ve talked to that has one experiences the same problems, and I haven’t heard of any sure cures for it. The only upside is that the motors were built well, and will last a long time as long as the oil pump hangs in there.
SEDNERB

Letsgo,
The sounds that you’ve described sounds more like a bearing going out after it heats up a little. Not really sure how you could check other than pulling the top off while the motor is running. Just make sure you don’t put your ear to close to any moving parts. Hope you find the problem, its no fun taking a boat out on the lake when your not confident of its safe return. Good luck to ya.
SEDNERB

Lakeskipper,
That’s the one. Thanks for reminding me. Now all I have to do is remember where my issue is at.
SEDNERB

The larger numbers represent “feet above sea level” as you probably already know, I think the smaller numbers represent depth at a certain location at each individual pool. Basically, I think they’re the same thing, they’re just using two different ways to calculate the depth. One is from the top of the water to sea level, and the other is from the top of the water to the bottom of the river. Hopefully I haven’t confused you any more than I have myself.
SEDNERB

Thats a little different than what I remember seeing. This one had a second section up above to hold the upper section of the rod. That one looks like it would work petty well though. Thanks
SEDNERB

I helped my buddy remove the middle bench seat out of his older V bottom boat. The middle bench seat was filled with foam insulation to provide floatation. After removing it, it did make the sides of the boat a little less rigid, but not enough to worry him. We put a flat floor in the middle using treated decking board to run in-between the bottom ribs, and then screwed quarter inch plywood down over them to give the floor a surface to walk on. He then used a vinyl flooring attached with paste on cement to cover the wood. All in all, it worked out pretty well, and he hasn’t had any problems with the boat. One thing you could use if your worried about floataion is some rigid insulation board under the plywood, probably the pink “celotex”. Good luck on whatever you decide to use. I would be more concerned about it if your using it on rough water, but if your just pond fishing, or river fishing, its probably not that big of a deal.
SEDNERB

Jon,
Well, whatever their reasons, I hope it benefited the lake and not just the “gill netters”. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for you guys to watch them rape that lake day in and day out.
SEDNERB

I think James is looking for a “Chiquita” sponsorship. Aren’t subliminal messages illegal? Anyway, gotta go now, I’m getting kind of hungry for something fruity.
SEDNERB

Jon,
Seems like a pretty drastic change in the regulations, what’s the reason for them opening things up so much compared to the last few years?
SEDNERB

James,
Last I heard all fish 17″-28″ need to be released, but that doesn’t mean you can keep anything under 17″. Last year the slot was 14″-16″, meaning you could eat two fish between in that two inch range. I think they were thinking of changing it to 14″-17″ this year but I haven’t read anything that states that for sure. Its not uncommon for the Minn. DNR to change the slot part way through the year, so the best thing to do is make sure you find out and understand the current regulations after you arrive. I think they post the current regs. on most of the ramps also. Anyone feel free to correct me if any of the above info. is incorrect.
SEDNERB

Nice report Steve,
How big of a boat were you guys fishing out of. Could a guy get away with a 18′ in most of the area you fished?
SEDNERB

Bobber,
Thanks for taking the time to get me that info.. If I ever see ya up there, I’ll buy you a beer……..or two…..or three.
SEDNERB

Bobber,
You wouldn’t happen to have a name and number for the mini-storage would you? Thanks in advance.
SEDNERB

I’ve also always used Evertrolls from Wal-mart. You can expect to get at least three years out of them, and not to mention they’re about half the price of a Minn Kota or an Interstate. I think I bought my last 27 series for 54.00. If I would ever have a problem with it within the first year, I’m confident Wal-mart will replace it, no questions asked.
SEDNERB

Unbelieveable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff,
Even though they made my neck a little sore, these are great pictures. Nice to see you got a couple of youngsters out with you. I’d be willing to be Tanner will be checking your schedule to see when you’re free again.
SEDNERB

RiverEyes,
I’m sorry to see that things have ended up for you the way that they have. According to your biographry in your personal profile I can see that things have steadily worsened over the past fifteen years. Maybe someday you’ll break your chains.
SEDNERB
P.S. If you know of any powerplant job openings around there, I’d appreciate a heads up.
Just Kidding!!

Skip,
One to two hundred dollars will get you a nice two bank on-board charger. The “two bank” means that you can maintain two batteries at one time. i.e. two trolling motor batteries, or one trolling motor battery and one starter battery.
They’re definately worth the money if you can afford one. I picked up a MinnKota MK220 a while ago for 179.00 from Gander, plus I got a 20 dollar mail-in-rebate with it.
Hope this helped you out.
SEDNERB

Its all relative ladies and gentlemen,
It doesn’t matter where you fish or hunt in the midwest, you’re always going to run into someone from another state that “rubs” you the wrong way. Its the same as out-of-state hunters coming into IA and trespassing on private property. I’d also be willing to bet there’s some boaters from “other states” that don’t share the same quality of fishing etiquette that IA boaters do up on Boji and Spirit lake. I’m sure there’s a few IA fisherman that would like to reply to Orca’s post with ( ditto, but swap the states). I was up on pool 4 about a month ago and a guy from WS looks over at me and says “you come all the way up here from IA just to fish for catfish”. Luckily for me I reeled in a 3lb. eye just as he was finishing up his sentence. It looked like his son was fishing with him, and you could tell that he was very embarassed that his father had the sac to say that to someone he didn’t even know. My point being, not everyone from every state is a bonehead, just a few of them.
SEDNERB

Don’t forget to put a “pee’ can in it, along with some emergency paper. You never know when you’ll need it. Besides, there’s nothing more unattractive than seeing some guy hanging his lure over the side of the boat right next to you.
SEDNERB

I bought a new boat this year, which had an a/p on it. My old boat had a power drive on it, which worked great, but on windy and crowded days its been nice to have the a/p feature, especially when you’ve got a fish on the line. I’m hoping it holds up for me, I wasn’t aware the a/p’s had a bad track record. I do think the co-pilot would be nice to have on occasion, I just wish they would have done something a little different with the speed setting. As far as I could tell, there wasn’t any, it was either on or off. Anyone feel free to let me know if I’m wrong, or if there’s a trick to it, I could see myself purchasing one in the future.
SEDNERB

Last year I bought an Olympus C-700. I bought it because it has a 10X optical zoom, so you can get a good close-up without any pixel distortion. The camera has worked really great for me, but it is kind of pricey at about 500 dollars. I take it out in the boat, tree-stand, and wherever I want it to go, and haven’t had any problems with it yet. (knock on wood). Good luck with whatever you get.
SEDNERB

Definately purchase an on-board charger if you can afford one, and definately do not overuse your starting battery as H2O said. I had to pull start a 4cyl. 50hp motor 10 miles out from camp on Lake of the Woods a couple years ago. I eventually got it going, but I couldn’t imagine pull starting a 90 hp motor.
On-board chargers take out all the hassle of pulling out, and putting in your batteries from the boat. If you can afford it buy a two bank charger so you’ll know that you’re starting battery is also getting charged. Good luck to ya.
SEDNERB