I can tell you that the smaller bays on Lake Minnetonka have iced over last night.

The crappies last weekend were catchable, but not real agressive. Had the most luck bobber fishing with minnows. Toss out, let sit 30 seconds, slowly reel in. Most bites were seen by the bobber beginning to sink as I reeled.

I fished mostly about 5′ depths, and caught about 2 dozen. Some were OK, some were tiny. Had 5 to take home for supper.

The largemouth are bigger, if you can find them. The smallmouth are a lot easier to find.

If you want to try to win, hunt for the largemouth, but that is kinda a all-or-nothing proposition. You will have a better chance of a good bag targeting smallies.

And I have also had good luck with surface baits this time of the year on the top of reefs. That is kinda hit & miss too, but if they are on, it will be a blast!

I have a friend who does winterizing and such on the side, works days on auto repair, and lives in Mound. He does good work and at a good price. If interested, I can get you his contact information.

If this was in Minnesota, you have some options the insurance company might not tell you. If it is totaled, I believe you have the right to a replacement car that is no worse than the car that was totaled. If it wasn’t totaled, you have the right to pick who does the work on the car, not the insurance company. Personally, I wouldn’t be too interested in a Buy Back.

And before you case any checks, be sure either there is enough to cover it, or be sure cashing the check doesn’t take the insurance company off the hook for additional costs.

PM Sent

There was someone fishing in a portable house on Black Lake of Lake Minnetonka this morning.

The lake has only dropped 0.02′ this week, and with the rain forcast for this weekend, it is highly likely Minnatonka will remain “Minimum Wake” (not “No Wake”) next weekend as well. Here is the defination of “Minimum Wake” the LMCD is using:

Quote:

---

“Minimum wake” means the wake moving out from a watercraft and trailing behind in a widening “V” is of insufficient size to affect other watercraft or to be detrimental to the shoreline.

---

And here is the link to the LMCD page dealing with the High Water issue:

http://lmcd.org/2014/06/lake-minnetonka-emergency-high-water-conditions-in-effect/

The players pay income tax, and it is based on the location of each game. So the Superbowl means that the salary for both teams for that event are MN tax events. That still ends up less than the public forked over for taxes. Studies have shown in the regular season most of the money spent by people attending games is money they would have spent closer to home on recreation. So the primary affect is money that would have been spent in bars/resturants/etc in the suburbs is being spent in the downtown area instead. From a MN State point of view, the way they come ahead is when people from out of state come to MN to attend a game. So, from a MN state point if view, it is actually a GOOD thing when the stadium is full of Packer/Bear/etc fans.

I bet if you call one of the bait shops in the area, they can give you a more detailed low-down. But I can’t see any way this weekend’s crappie tournament won’t be happening.

I was a couple boats in the water on the way to work, sitting in slips in one of the Marinas. With the weather today, I expect the ice to be pretty much gone by tomorrow morning. The landing by the sheriffs office would likely be a good one to launch at. That bay I didn’t see any ice in at all this morning. From what I could see, the bays with the deepest water had the most ice. I would think Maxwell and North Arm are probably open now, but I haven’t driven by those.

And don’t forget to rinse your gear in fresh water right after you are done fishing. That salt water can ruin a good rod & reel darned fast if you aren’t careful.

Minnetonka is going to be not too far from schedule. Isn’t average ice-out there tomorrow? On the way in to work today I saw significant patch of open water in the middle of Smiths Bay. And open water between Seton and Emerald lakes yesterday.

If they are holding a rod or hand line with anything in water (even a bare hook) they could be considered to be fishing. Just because the hook is bare now doesn’t mean it didn’t have a minnow on it 10 seconds ago. Handing you a rod is not a problem. I don’t think netting a fish for you would be a problem either, but that you might want to ask someone about. Running the boat, not a problem. Holding up a fish you caught, not a problem. Just don’t have more rods in use than is legal, and to be safe, don’t have extra rods sitting out. If you are the only one to be able to fish, it might look suspicious of there are 4 rods sitting out rigged and ready to go. Be sure to have everything else covered. Enough of the right kind of floatation devices, fire extinguisher if the boat requires it, etc.

I have had non-fishermen in the boat with me on occassion, and I am sure plenty of others have too.

It’s generally easier getting someone to help you move than it is to get help with Minnetonka walleyes. I can give you some help though. Generally you want to fish around sunset/sunrise. That is when they will be most active. And most of the walleye that I have caught have been eating small perch, but they bite OK for me on fatheads. Don’t expect to get much action, best I have done in one evening (5 hours) is 6 hits. If you are fishing during the day, you might need to go deep. Look for fish in 30+ feet of water and try there.

If you want action, go for bass/northern. If you want a fish dinner, a northern after the water has cooled down below the 70’s is just as good as walleye IMHO. If you don’t know how to get the Y-bones out, search the web for help.

Hope this gives you something to start.

Good luck!

Can you ensure he will have NO access to either of the other cars? If so, talk with your insurance agent about removing him as a potential driver of those cars. I know people who have done that. That also means if he somehow DID drive one of those cars and got in an accident, you are NOT covered.

One thing to consider, when you are the buyer, the realtor isn’t going to generally cost you anything, and will be looking out for your best interest. Realtor fees are covered by the seller. So unless you are getting a discount for not having a realtor, why wouldn’t you use one?

Expect them to look hard at things like milage, and business in the home deductions. They also like to see if they can find evidence you haven’t reported all your income. Depending on what kind of business it is, they will adjust what they focus on, looking for issues that commonly come up in an audit. Have whoever did your taxes present at the audit, and remember not to volunteer any information. In my case, I was told we were not allowed to deduct travel expenses for myself when I flew to Las Vegas with my wife to work 24hrs in 2 days at a convention she was selling product at for her business. Turns out a business can only pay for a spouse to travel if they are on the books as an employee, and get paid as an employee with the IRS having records of that. The fact I worked most of my waking hours didn’t matter.

Good luck!

Is it a battery-powered mouse? I have seen some cases where a new battery in one of those is providing too much voltage. If that is the problem, leaving it on a couple days will drop the voltage to the level the mouse expects, and the mouse will operate properly from that point on.

Pros – More room in the boat, less weight in the boat, trolling is easier.

Cons – Going to get wet if it is windy, less visibility in front of you until the boat nose comes down.

Quote:

---

i’m confused, it was the other persons fault and he was ticketed. why is YOUR insurance company even invaulved?

---

Minnesota is a No-Fault state, so no matter who is at fault you go through your insurance company. Strangly enough, this means they decide what percentage you were at fault and what percentage the other person was at fault. Generally they like to say you are 10% at fault for simply being on the road, although if the other person broke the law and was ticketed, that sometimes brings your percentage down to 0. The reason this is important is YOUR insurance company will be required to pay the percentage you were deemed at fault.

You should not need a lawyer. Minnesota law about 10 years ago required them to provide you a comperable vehicle instead of a cash settlement if that is your choice. You could check if that is still the case, and if so, you have that option to pursue. If you decide you need a lawyer, you also need a new insurance company, because it means they are not doing their job.

But above all, remember that the Commissioner of Insurance is your friend!

Insurance companies do NOT like this person getting involved, because this is someone who can prevent them from operating in the state, and this is EXACTLY the kind of thing that office was designed to deal with. I was in a similar situation about 20 years ago, and after a week of me not getting anywhere, I told the agent I was dealing with I was going to contact the Commissioner of Insurance. The next day I got a call from the agents supervisor, who basically said my agent didn’t do anything wrong, but they decided that even though I was 10% at fault for being on the road during rush hour, they were going to waive that and cover the entire repair cost. In my case the other driver also got a ticket.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Where is a good place to meet, and what time?

There are a couple of party boats that goes out of Ft Myers Beach, if you want to get off-shore for under $100. There are also split-charters for a few of the 6-pack boats there, which still isn’t bad. Get Away Marina is one of marinas there.

If you fish from shore, be careful about the fish you touch. Several small-looking fish have nasty teeth! Particulary the Mangrove Snapper. An 8″ fish will have a couple fangs over 1/2″ long, and has the same mentality as a snapping turtle.

If you want to try shore fishing, a number of marina’s and bait shops rent fishing poles. If you want to use one of your own, be SURE to rinse the rod & reel in fresh water as soon as you can once you are done fishing. The salt water is NASTY on equipment if given half a chance.

The two ways I would suggest fishing is with plastics on a jighead if you want to cast, and with shrimp on a carolina rig or under a popper.

Finally, if you want to keep anything, be sure you know the size limits and open/closed seasons as well as bag limits. Last I checked it was $500/fish if you keep something you shouldn’t.

Yep, MN isn’t going to turn down an opportunity to tax you.

Paypal offers a little protection, but not much. Best thing is to use a credit card through paypal. Your credit card company offers a LOT more protection. If this paypal account is set up to not allow credit cards, you have to decide if it’s worth the risk.

Quote:

---

“A direct sales tax in one county is a non-starter for me. Why should one county pay for a regional asset? There’s no way that the benefits are confined to that county so why should one tax base pay for it while others get a free ride? “

Study after study has shown nobody except the sports teams benifit by building a publicly funded stadium. So……..let Zig and the NFL build it.

---

The studies I have have seen show that the immediate area gets a noticable boost, but it mostly comes from the surrounding areas. So, with the current stadium, the hotels, taverns, restraunts, etc., that are downtown get in increase in sales, but that is because people from Bloomington, Woodbury, Mound, etc., are spending their $$ downtown instead of their own neighborhood. That makes a city tax the most appropriate (IF a tax is decided to be appropriate), a county the the next, and a state tax the least. The only way the state sees an increase, is if lots of poeople from out of state come here for a game, like the Vikings-Packers game. That however, is not the norm.

Broiled, fried, baked and blackened are all good! One of the best near-shore ocean fish!

If you are wanting to use lighter tackle, I would stay away from baitcasters, unless you feel pretty good at using one. If you want to try using one for light tackle, I suggest getting something pretty cheap until you find out if you are comfortable casting against the wind with light tackle. That is the real challenging part for me, so the lightest tackle I use with a baitcaster is about 1/2 oz. Anything lighter I go back to my spinning stuff.

Quote:

---

I watched I think 1 play. A pass right into Harvin’s hands that he inexplicably dropped. Donnie was 19 of 24 for 177 yards. Ponder was 9 of 17 for 99. Not seeing the game I would have assumed Donnie got hurt.

---

Actually, McNab was one of the brighter spots yesterday. He still had a few thrown into the ground, but it looked like he had quite a number of drops. Both the O-Line and D-Line were bad, and special teams was terrible. I didn’t check the final numbers, but Hester probably had about as many pass&return yards as the entire Vikings offense. Pass rush was almost non-existant, pass defense had plenty of holes.

Probably their worst game of the year!

The majority of walleyes will be active from just before sunset to just after sunrise, with best fishing right around sunrise & sunset. If you want to fish them during the day, fish deep. Seen people catch them as deep at 50′.

Be careful at night on Tonka, because lots of people on that lake drive a boat like a car, thinking they should should stay to the right of any oncoming boat as they pass it. Just the opposite of what they are legaly supposed to do.