the draintiling the yard is a great idea…..but. Remember, in the spring and the fall, as ground temps sink to below freezing, any water in the drain tile freezes also. Now, you think, well if the ground freezes, then I shouldnt have to worry. Wrong. Your foundation seeps heat, keeping the ground thawed (roughly 2-4 feet) all the way around your house. What I’m getting at is that if you tile your yard, be sure to get the tile deep enough so that when it does come freeze up time, it won’t freeze immediately, and it’ll thaw before the snow melts in the spring. Whenever we tile a yard around here we put in a large basket or culvert and install a lift pump. We dig the tile in 2 feet, lay a bed of drain tile rock or pea rock, lay the tile(the kind with the sock on it) and lay more pea rock on top of it before back filling. The other reason you want to have at least two feet of dirt over your tile is so there is enough dirt to bridge the tile, so that if you drive a large lawn mower, vehicle, etc, over it it won’t get crushed

I know one thing….I’m sure glad that we can’t open our mouths that big….I know there’d be at least one incident on the news a month- ‘ man swallows another man after bar room disagreement…..both die of suffacation and humilation’

If you check out this page on on the dnr website….I may have an answer as to why the two northern’s are of different spots:

Northern pike biology

It has a section on tiger muskie……this pic wasn’t taken near or around the twin cities area lakes per chance??

the thing about peta that still bothers me is that they don’t have the foresite to realize that nature has a system of checks and balances, and we as humans are a vital part. If we were to stop hunting and fishing, the forests would be over populated, causing pestilence and disease to run rampant among the wildlife. Not to mention that the deer to car ratio on our insterstates would be WAY too high, making the next wave of millionaires out of body shop owners
I still think the best thing we could do to all the protesters is sit them down and make them eat what they protest us hunting……I bet we’d make a few converts of our own

If I understand you correctly, you have a block basement. I’ve been working on flood damaged foundations for the last five years, and have encountered many block basements that have had their morter joints fail. So, what happens is the core of the blocks fill with water, and, since the blocks are porous, they slowly seep until all the water is gone, either back to the outside of the wall to the drain tile, or to the inside of the wall to the floor, insulation, sheet rock(you get the point). This can happen as far up as the exposed blocks on the top of your foundation, and they can be filled with a good driving rain. The easiest fix is to do a visual inspection on the outside of the outside block and look for cracked or missing morter joints. If you have them, I’d suggest getting some non shrink grout, knock out the failed morter, and tuck point the grout in. If that’s not the case, there may be failed joints sub-grade(common). There are a few fixes(none of them fun, some way more involved than others). Option 1- dig around entire foundation, one section at a time, clean inspect and fix any failed mortor joints, then re-apply a mastic waterproofer with plastic over top, Or, you can get a waterproof membrane and place on it. I’ve been using the membrane for a few years, and am really satisfied with it. I live in Northern MN, and we’ve been flooded twice in the last few years, and haven’t had any problems with any of the new basements we’ve installed this on, or any of the older ones we’ve retro’d this on. YOU MUST FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS OF THE PRODUCT, however. This sounds like a pretty involved project, but in reality, its not. rent a mini backhoe for a weekend($200-300 bucks max) The waterproofing will run you around 300 bucks for the membrane, half that for the roll on tar and plastic, and one or two of your closest suckers..er friends.
Option 2- you can get a water channeling system that you install along the inside perimeter of your wall and direct any and all water that leaks in you blocks to your sump basket. Basically, you drill holes in each core (depending on the style of block, you have 2 or 3 cores in each block. You can determine this by tapping on the block and listening for the number of hollow chambers. Essentially, if the center of the block sounds hollow, you have three cores, evenly spaced. If it sounds solid, two cores). Drill 3/8-1/2″ holes in each core, where the block meets the floor. You then install this channel on the perimeter around the bottom of the floor, and let it expel in your sump hole.
Option 3 (same concept, but not nearly as easy) You rent a cement saw, saw the floor around the perimeter of you basement out 12-16″, with a trench to your sump basket. Remove this portion of the floor. dig along the footings, install drain tile, cover with pea rock, and stub the drain tile into your sump. in the bottom blocks, again you drill holes, but this time put some sort of corragated material up against the holes, in a way that it covers the holes and bends over the footings and over the drain tile/pea rock. Dowel in 1/2″ rods approximately 18″ apart in the existing floor, and re-pour the trench. The benefit to this method is that it allows for you to finish the basement wall without having to build your stub wall over to accomidate the drain channel I described in the earlier procedure. Hope this wasn’t too confusing
One last tip- to figure out if this is the problem….drill one hole in the bottom block where you notice the moisture….if water comes out……..

Lake of the woods
mille lacs
tonka
devils
Rainy River
warroad/roseau river-believe it or not!
Red Lake
bay de noc (spelling?)-I’ve only fished once, but MAN for the fish
Leech
I’d also like to mention that there’s some awesome fishing on the boundry waters, and there are some phenominal fishing just north of the border in ontario and manitoba

if you want to end that problem forever, take the ground connector and sanwhich it between two washers, and weld the washers to the trailer. One little bead all the way around the washer will end a lot of headaches

If you want great fishing, plus a good lake to ski and such on, try any one of the numerous resorts on Lake of the woods, You could even try the Warroad city Campground, which is located right on the lake front, with a pool, restroom facilties, RV hook up sites AND tent sites. This is a nicely maintained campground, there’s a casino and lake side restauraunt within walking distance, plus the city of warroad has shopping and groceries right there. There’s also a few good Adult Beverage serving establishments within walking distance (5 in town, 4 more within 7 miles) And a few of them have live bands on Friday and Saturday nites a few weekends a month. I may also add the the walleye fishing has been superb

a quick little note….The construction company I work for has about a dozen trailers, some tandems, some single axles, and we’ve found that it never pays to go cheap. We actually have started using Cooper tires on every trailer as the tires wear out, and we have one trailer that has a hub meter on it…The tires have over 25,000 miles on them and still look really good, and I believe we put the tires on about 5 years ago.

if you do have the battery up front, consider a spiral cell or a gell cell battery….they take abuse much better than the old lead plates, otherwise, a cheap and easy way to run wire is to go to your nearest hardware store, and get welding cable and some solder on ends. You can get ends that’ll fit right over your deep cycle stud, and then all you need is to run a bolt through the other end where your trolling motor connection is. The reason I say welding cable is the bigger the cable, the less resistance you’ll have, and you won’t have any heat issues.

I’ve got lots….I like to have venison chili, I love marinated venison(in something like jack daniels grilling sauce with some lemon juice to get it in there) Then grill it on a open pit with some hardwood chips. I really like pan fried venison with fresh walleye and with fried taters and onions(REAL SURF AND TURF), Or, if you feel ambitious….grind up some venision, get some fresh ground pork, some seasonings, and stuff them in sausage casings and smoke it over hickory coals for about 2 days…..MMMM MMM

an eye for an eye, that’s how I try to live

I can’t wait till I don’t need to carry a cooler to keep my beer cold!!

I’m not positve, but the 4-wire flat may only work if you have a towing package on that particular truck. If you do have to splice in, be sure you take your time and use solder connections, with shrink wrap covering. DO NOT USE TAP SPLICE CONNECTIONS!!! Otherwise you will put your boat in the water, pull it out, and get pulled over for no tail lights. Then, you’ll have to pay someone like me to rewire your truck.

just bumping it up…..next weekend it the weekend to come up north!!!

Like I mentioned earlier, I don’t endorse spearing, and in fact I’ve heard of several people who don’t respect the rules of spearing. Up in this area we have people who illegally spear walleye as they run up river in the spring, and it doesn’t seem to phase them that they are doing an unmentionable amount of harm to the species.
Personally, I’d take a bad day of angling over throwing a pointy stick in the water. But that’s just me

about all that’d happen if you hooked something that big with a walleye or panfish rig is you’d either donate an expensive rod, or at least part of it to the murky depths………
and if you caught the fish of your dreams, you’d have nothing to dream about(that was worth the time)

just for the sake of arguement, not to cause one…..
if you spear a 188lb fish, how is it different than snagging a 8 oz fish with a large treble hook. I understand the difference between the two techniques, and I’m not a big endorser of spearing, just making a point. and yes, 188lb fish is a lot of fish!!

welcome guys, congrats!!! now, show me the fish!!!

the fist is a picture of an SUV- Somewhat Underwater Vehicle…..and the second is a failed prototype of a new concept-a garage boat. They’re still working out the bugs on the second one

I’ll answer your question with another question: has it seemed to ‘chatter’ when it’s sub-zero out?-and the auger has been outside in the sub-zero temp for a while? Mine does it from time to time also, but once you warm it up, it behaves. It IS the clutch slipping, but that’s caused buy really thick oil in the gear box because of the recent -30 below temps. If you experience this problem again, what I do is run the auger at a speed just above an idle with no load on for a minute or so, increasing throttle as it seems to free up. This warms up the gear box and gets the oil flowing!!

actually, no…I used my own batter….I soak the fish in half and half with seasoned salt for about 2 hrs, and take saltine crackers and run them through the blender (powdered saltines basically) and pan fry them in veggie oil with salt and pepper to taste…best way to enjoy fish I’ve found so far…doesn’t take away the flavor any. And, yes, they were good!!!

about half the holes I drill with my jiffy are re-opened holes…have yet to be disappointed…hasn’t stalled once..and I’m drilling into the thick ice of Lake of the woods(it was 33″ on sunday). As far as throwing ice and slush, I’ve found that if you don’t go full throttle until you’ve got a little pile of shavings built up, then put the coals to her, you won’t hardly get the floor (or your shins) wet.

is that the model with the removable sifter attachment? Those work awesome for minnows. Also, if you don’t wash them out before you put them in service as fish carriers, they will also leave your fish smelling spring time fresh

I thought I’d mention that there’s lots to do around warroad on the same weekend…..
If you came up on Friday, Feb 20th….you could venture to Roseau, mn, and partake in the annual ‘Frostbite Daze’ festivities, which are running all weekend long. They include oval track snowmobile racing, an attempt on the largest international snowmobile ride, beer gardens, snowmobile drag races, beer gardens, the kickoff of Polaris industries 50th anniversary celebration, and…did I mention beer gardens? Also, there’s another little ice fishing tourney…on Hayes lake, with smaller prize pool, but its for a good cause. It’s put on by the Wannaska Lions club, and they usually donate a majority of the proceeds to a worthy cause.
Hope this persuades a few people to venture up north…seems some folks believe that the power company doesn’t provide service north of St. Cloud.

I’m a jiffy fan, through and through. A 2hp jiffy legend lightning will run you about $300 smackers, and I’ve yet to have a problem with mine(last week when it was -40, without the windchill, mine popped off on the 3rd pull, and I’m on my second tank of gas this year….after drilling about 100 holes) plus, the jiffy’s are a little cheaper to get new blades for, and they’re painted up that spiffy yellow….what more could you ask for??

I was wrong, it’s more like 2 miles….my odometer is wrong on my truck(oversized tires), and I had a brain fart. There is a nasty breaker starting to push up on the road, I expect to soon be using a chainsaw to get to our houses. The fishing has seemed to dropped off a little, but not enough to merit a move( we still can pull up 30-40 perch, and 10-20 saugers/walleye in an 8 hr stint on the ice), just the size is a little spotty. The big ones are there, you can see them on the locator, but they aren’t that easy to convince that they should chow down on your yummy hook. I can’t seem to figure out what works best…seems like every bigger eye I’ve pulled up has been on a different lure. I’ll keep posting any changes. I wonder if the severly sub-zero temps aren’t making the big fellas a little sluggish?

I’ve had really good luck with the ‘gizmo’ and ‘bone’ type bobber stops….even with my ugly ice rods they’ve been going through nicely-as long as you point the tip towards the hole (as tom mentioned) you won’t have any problems. You’ll remember to do it after you find youself fishing about 10 feet from the bottom a couple times from the stop slipping. I just use the excuse that I was checking for suspended fish(I fish with a locator, so the excuse usually doesn’t have much credibility). The one and only problem I’ve had with using the stops is dropping the line back down the hole-it likes to hang up on the stop in the spool at times, which is more of a nuisance than a problem. Another thing you could do is get the absolute smallest crimp on bb weight and use that as a marker-I’ve used them as stops from time to time when in a pinch

use a slip bobber, like a wing it, and a bobber stop, like a gizmo or a bone…I stay away from the tie on types because they have a tendency to come loose, and being inaccurate

yeah, it’s 1.3 miles, give or take a tenth….there’s always people around it….basically it’s the second little village you’ll run across