The Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys are coming to an end, with one regular-season tournament remaining on Aug. 25.
I wrote a column about the tournaments for Sunday's edition of The Free Press. It's also available online.
Without rehashing too much of what I wrote there, what you need to know is that Tuesday, Aug. 11, no one caught a walleye at Madison Lake.
That means two teams, locked in first place with 49 points, will be battling it out for team of the year. Stu Mckee and Roger Kramer, winners the last three years, are trying to hold of Dan Griep and Bill Holland.
The important thing to understand here is that all anglers receive five points just for fishing a tournament. If a team weighs a fish, they receive seven points, and placing nets you eight points for third, nine points for second and 10 points for first.
So basically, these two teams could come out in a tie after the Lake Tetonka tournament.
Now, the Tetonka tourney is the final regular-season tournament, but there is another tournament slated for anyone who fished in all the tournaments this year or placed in the top 10 in points.
That tournament is at a site to be determined. Basically, all of the anglers who fish the Tetonka tournament get to vote afterward for the lake they'd prefer to fish in the season-ending tournament. The lake with the most votes becomes the site of the winner-take all tournament.
Stay tuned, because it's sure to be a fantastic finish.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Comedy in fishing — The Streater file
(Editor's note: The link to the print edition of this story was incorrect and has now been fixed.)I had an interesting week.
On top of my normal duties as a copy editor for The Free Press — I've never liked that title because it doesn't begin to encapsulate the wide variety of duties I perform for the paper — I had the privilege to interview Dick Streater, one of the top authorities on collectible fishing lures.
But Streater isn't just a collector, he's also a funny gentleman who incorporates all those collectible fishing gadgets into a one hour talk.
"When I find something funny, you have to think of something funny to say," Streater says.
After talking with Streater for nearly an hour, it became clear to me there was no way I could tell all the interesting stories he told me in the space of a newspaper. It's just not possible my friends.
So I've compiled a few interesting things that didn't make my story in Sunday's print edition. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.
On Mankato
• Streater said he was deeply rooted to Mankato. Part of that, he's said, was because his father was the Chief Clerk of the Blue Earth County Rationing Board during World War II. His father was also the business manager of the Mankato Legion, and hence, because business manager of the Mankato Merchants baseball team.
"The players would crack their bat and my dad would bring them home, and I'd glue them and tape them up tight," he said, "and we'd go out and play with them."
• Voted the funniest guy in his senior class. "I guess I was just destined to do this (comedic lure talks)."
• Once bought a bottle of Kato Beer at an antique shop after it had stopped being brewed, and at a class reunion ordered a Budweiser and poured it into the Kato Beer bottle. Everyone asked him where he got it, and he'd tell them the bar. Then they'd say "that's impossible, they went out of business."
Which lures are better
Streater said a good many of the collectors out in his neck of the woods are switching back to the old lures and are having good success catching fish. From reels, to line, to lures, these guys are getting a feel for the classics.
"Of course, none of the old stuff has rattles or any of that monkey business," he said. But he said the equipment works just fine. "I've used several old lures that I've fished with and I enjoy it."
Odds and ends
• Once caught an 11 pound, 2 ounces bass in Mexico on a Zara Spook.
• Currently working on a collaboration with another guy on the history of mosquito repellents. Listening to him rattle of names like "Scram," "Scat" and "Swat that Skeeter" make me think he'll do just fine with his blend of humor and wit.
• Played trombone in both the University of Minnesota marching band and the Army Marching Band. He owns both a slide and valve trombone and is comfortable playing either one. Talking about the U of M band, he said, "It was a hell of a good part of my life."
• He introduced a variety of old lures and collectibles in his talks. I gather the format is much like a stand up routine tooled toward each interesting "gadget."
• Steater will be in Minnesota for about two weeks this fall — toward the end of September and into the early part of October. He said he'd like to give a few talks while he's here.
In a packet of information he sent me, I came across this: "I enjoy giving this talk so much that I have not established a charge for it. On the other hand, with gas and food and the time involved, I have never refused to accept an honorarium if offered."
I asked him about this and he stood by what I typed above. Basically, as I see it, that's a pretty cheap cost to get him out to an area sportsmen or fishing club. But that's just me.
• If you would like to contact Streater or get more information on his "talks," e-mail him at lureguru@aol.com.
On top of my normal duties as a copy editor for The Free Press — I've never liked that title because it doesn't begin to encapsulate the wide variety of duties I perform for the paper — I had the privilege to interview Dick Streater, one of the top authorities on collectible fishing lures.
But Streater isn't just a collector, he's also a funny gentleman who incorporates all those collectible fishing gadgets into a one hour talk.
"When I find something funny, you have to think of something funny to say," Streater says.
After talking with Streater for nearly an hour, it became clear to me there was no way I could tell all the interesting stories he told me in the space of a newspaper. It's just not possible my friends.
So I've compiled a few interesting things that didn't make my story in Sunday's print edition. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did.
On Mankato
• Streater said he was deeply rooted to Mankato. Part of that, he's said, was because his father was the Chief Clerk of the Blue Earth County Rationing Board during World War II. His father was also the business manager of the Mankato Legion, and hence, because business manager of the Mankato Merchants baseball team.
"The players would crack their bat and my dad would bring them home, and I'd glue them and tape them up tight," he said, "and we'd go out and play with them."
• Voted the funniest guy in his senior class. "I guess I was just destined to do this (comedic lure talks)."
• Once bought a bottle of Kato Beer at an antique shop after it had stopped being brewed, and at a class reunion ordered a Budweiser and poured it into the Kato Beer bottle. Everyone asked him where he got it, and he'd tell them the bar. Then they'd say "that's impossible, they went out of business."
Which lures are better
Streater said a good many of the collectors out in his neck of the woods are switching back to the old lures and are having good success catching fish. From reels, to line, to lures, these guys are getting a feel for the classics.
"Of course, none of the old stuff has rattles or any of that monkey business," he said. But he said the equipment works just fine. "I've used several old lures that I've fished with and I enjoy it."
Odds and ends
• Once caught an 11 pound, 2 ounces bass in Mexico on a Zara Spook.
• Currently working on a collaboration with another guy on the history of mosquito repellents. Listening to him rattle of names like "Scram," "Scat" and "Swat that Skeeter" make me think he'll do just fine with his blend of humor and wit.
• Played trombone in both the University of Minnesota marching band and the Army Marching Band. He owns both a slide and valve trombone and is comfortable playing either one. Talking about the U of M band, he said, "It was a hell of a good part of my life."
• He introduced a variety of old lures and collectibles in his talks. I gather the format is much like a stand up routine tooled toward each interesting "gadget."
• Steater will be in Minnesota for about two weeks this fall — toward the end of September and into the early part of October. He said he'd like to give a few talks while he's here.
In a packet of information he sent me, I came across this: "I enjoy giving this talk so much that I have not established a charge for it. On the other hand, with gas and food and the time involved, I have never refused to accept an honorarium if offered."
I asked him about this and he stood by what I typed above. Basically, as I see it, that's a pretty cheap cost to get him out to an area sportsmen or fishing club. But that's just me.
• If you would like to contact Streater or get more information on his "talks," e-mail him at lureguru@aol.com.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Fun at Frances
A lot of little fish. But a lot of fish.
This is how are afternoon was at Lake Frances in Elysian. Fishing partner Dave caught 14 fish, all on Mimic Minnows. He caught seven bass and seven little pike.
I came in at nine fish — seven bass and two pike. I also lost two pike that bit me off, so the count could have been higher.
We pretty much worked around the shorelines and docks. There is a lot of weed cover, but if you look for pockets, it's pretty manageable.
It'd been a long time since I'd been on Frances, and I have to say, that's a nice little lake. The people living on the lake take good care of their properties, their shorelines. There is a nice beach that seems to get used, and the overall quality of the lake just seemed good.
I can't imagine fishing there on a weekend, as I'm sure the recreation traffic would be intense. Even for a Monday, we saw a lot of people making good use of the lake.
Most importantly, with all the fish we caught and the strikes we had, the future for Frances looks bright.
Correction
A reader said I miss spelled Ballantyne (Ballentine is how I'd labeled it). I took my spelling directly off Google maps, which happened to be wrong. I double checked the reader's spelling against the DNR Web site and found the reader was correct. So my bad and thanks for the heads up.
Monday, August 3, 2009
MIxing things up
I went out to Lake Ballentine near Madison Lake about a week ago. I'd heard good things about the action out there, both for bass and northern, and was interested in giving it a shot.
My fishing partners for the day were Danny Williams, a former standout athlete at St. Clair who is know going to school for golf management at Arizona State University, and his older brother Mike, who happens to have a pretty decent collection of newspaper clippings and photos of some pretty impressive fish.
One of those newspaper clippings happened to have a 15 pound striper, which was one big fish.
Mike Williams likes to fish bass, so naturally, we expected to get on top of some serious fish between the two of us. Danny Williams likes to get sun, and fish on occasion.
While pitching docks, locals would come out and tell us the big ones were "out there." One fella told us to work the weeds for northern.
We did all of that and then some, but Danny was the only one who actually caught a bass — two, as a matter of fact. Yours truly missed two fish. The first one, a fat hawg that boiled the water next to the boat, ran deep and snapped my line — operator error here; I set the drag too tight only moments before.
The second I missed on a scum frog — again operator error as I set the hook too soon.
The boat traffic, according to the locals that day, was the busiest they'd seen in a long time. The small public landing was full for most of the day, and the lake definitely was abuzz. Mike Williams blamed the boat traffic for our slow day, and was already making plans for a weekday trip where he could "enjoy" the lake.
The trip to Ballentine came on the heals of a trip to Lake Francis, which fell through. That trip, however, will take place tonight. We'll shoot for bass and northerns, but, as always, all fish are fair game.
I'll post a fishing update from Frances later.
My fishing partners for the day were Danny Williams, a former standout athlete at St. Clair who is know going to school for golf management at Arizona State University, and his older brother Mike, who happens to have a pretty decent collection of newspaper clippings and photos of some pretty impressive fish.
One of those newspaper clippings happened to have a 15 pound striper, which was one big fish.
Mike Williams likes to fish bass, so naturally, we expected to get on top of some serious fish between the two of us. Danny Williams likes to get sun, and fish on occasion.
While pitching docks, locals would come out and tell us the big ones were "out there." One fella told us to work the weeds for northern.
We did all of that and then some, but Danny was the only one who actually caught a bass — two, as a matter of fact. Yours truly missed two fish. The first one, a fat hawg that boiled the water next to the boat, ran deep and snapped my line — operator error here; I set the drag too tight only moments before.
The second I missed on a scum frog — again operator error as I set the hook too soon.
The boat traffic, according to the locals that day, was the busiest they'd seen in a long time. The small public landing was full for most of the day, and the lake definitely was abuzz. Mike Williams blamed the boat traffic for our slow day, and was already making plans for a weekday trip where he could "enjoy" the lake.
The trip to Ballentine came on the heals of a trip to Lake Francis, which fell through. That trip, however, will take place tonight. We'll shoot for bass and northerns, but, as always, all fish are fair game.
I'll post a fishing update from Frances later.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Pair of tourney winners
Well, I finally have results for you from the Lake German Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourney that took place July 14.
Nate Brunz and his teammate Andy (see below for more on Andy) pulled off the win, weighing two fish for a 10 pound, 8 ounce stringer.
Brothers Tom and Ken Davis finished second with one fish weighing in at 6 pounds 4.6 ounces. This also happened to be the big fish winner on German, which netted the pot money for big fish from East Jefferson. If you'll remember, the field was skunked at Jeff and all prize money carried over to German.
Third place went to the team of Troy Bessman and Steve Wolfe. The duo weighed one fish at 4 pounds, .8 ounces.
The tournament returned to Lake Washington Tuesday. Tournament director Tim Hobbs said the walleyes weren't nearly as big as the first time the tournament hit Washington — Stu McKee and Roger Kramer edged Bill Holland and Dan Griep despite weighing one less fish — plenty of small walleye were caught.
Bessman and Wolfe pulled in first place with a three fish, 4 pound 8.4 ounce stringer. Coming in second was McKee and Kramer. They weighed two fish at 2 pounds, 3.6 ounces.
Holland and Griep weighed in one fish at 1 pound, 4.1 ounces, which narrowlly handed them third place. Hobbs said he weighed in four other fish that landed between .9 ounces (wow, that's small!) to 1 pound, 2.4 ounces.
Hobbs said he expects a full, official tally of the standings later this week. I'd been tracking the progress of Holland/Griep, Kramer/McKee closely, because early on these two teams were the teams scoring all the points. Unofficially, I have them locked at 44 with two regular season tournaments to go.
This is very unofficial, however, as points for each tournament can be awarded for just showing up, and also for just weighing a fish. And I also have a sneaking suspicion that the team of Bessman/Wolfe isn't far behind the other two teams.
More on Andy
As a journalist, I'm trained to track down the facts. If you can't verify something, you cut it out or write around it. But here on this blog, and specifically with these walleye tournaments, I'm in a unique situation.
Nate Brunz and Andy were the German winners, but Hobbs couldn't come up with a last name for Andy. And with the increasing popularity of cell phones, I couldn't find a listing for Brunz to call and ask him.
Now, if this were going in our newspaper, I'd start calling other anglers from the tournament, hoping one or the other would know his name. Then I'd call him and verify. I will still do this to make sure Andy gets his proper credit, but I don't want to short change him now by not mentioning him along with Brunz as winners of the German tourney.
So if you know who Andy is, drop me a line. If you're out there Andy, drop me a line. In the meantime, I'll do my homework.
You might wonder how this could happen since both were fishing in a tournament, but until the newspaper started snooping around the walleye tournaments, there was probably little need for Hobbs to gather last names and correct spellings and such. Several of the anglers in this year's field have said that the best thing about fishing the tournaments was the camraderie.
Several of the anglers admit knowing a lot of the competition strictly through the walleye tournaments, so things like last names don't always crop up and complicate things.
Leave it to me to come along and make a casually event just a little more formal. Doh!
Nate Brunz and his teammate Andy (see below for more on Andy) pulled off the win, weighing two fish for a 10 pound, 8 ounce stringer.
Brothers Tom and Ken Davis finished second with one fish weighing in at 6 pounds 4.6 ounces. This also happened to be the big fish winner on German, which netted the pot money for big fish from East Jefferson. If you'll remember, the field was skunked at Jeff and all prize money carried over to German.
Third place went to the team of Troy Bessman and Steve Wolfe. The duo weighed one fish at 4 pounds, .8 ounces.
The tournament returned to Lake Washington Tuesday. Tournament director Tim Hobbs said the walleyes weren't nearly as big as the first time the tournament hit Washington — Stu McKee and Roger Kramer edged Bill Holland and Dan Griep despite weighing one less fish — plenty of small walleye were caught.
Bessman and Wolfe pulled in first place with a three fish, 4 pound 8.4 ounce stringer. Coming in second was McKee and Kramer. They weighed two fish at 2 pounds, 3.6 ounces.
Holland and Griep weighed in one fish at 1 pound, 4.1 ounces, which narrowlly handed them third place. Hobbs said he weighed in four other fish that landed between .9 ounces (wow, that's small!) to 1 pound, 2.4 ounces.
Hobbs said he expects a full, official tally of the standings later this week. I'd been tracking the progress of Holland/Griep, Kramer/McKee closely, because early on these two teams were the teams scoring all the points. Unofficially, I have them locked at 44 with two regular season tournaments to go.
This is very unofficial, however, as points for each tournament can be awarded for just showing up, and also for just weighing a fish. And I also have a sneaking suspicion that the team of Bessman/Wolfe isn't far behind the other two teams.
More on Andy
As a journalist, I'm trained to track down the facts. If you can't verify something, you cut it out or write around it. But here on this blog, and specifically with these walleye tournaments, I'm in a unique situation.
Nate Brunz and Andy were the German winners, but Hobbs couldn't come up with a last name for Andy. And with the increasing popularity of cell phones, I couldn't find a listing for Brunz to call and ask him.
Now, if this were going in our newspaper, I'd start calling other anglers from the tournament, hoping one or the other would know his name. Then I'd call him and verify. I will still do this to make sure Andy gets his proper credit, but I don't want to short change him now by not mentioning him along with Brunz as winners of the German tourney.
So if you know who Andy is, drop me a line. If you're out there Andy, drop me a line. In the meantime, I'll do my homework.
You might wonder how this could happen since both were fishing in a tournament, but until the newspaper started snooping around the walleye tournaments, there was probably little need for Hobbs to gather last names and correct spellings and such. Several of the anglers in this year's field have said that the best thing about fishing the tournaments was the camraderie.
Several of the anglers admit knowing a lot of the competition strictly through the walleye tournaments, so things like last names don't always crop up and complicate things.
Leave it to me to come along and make a casually event just a little more formal. Doh!
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Boater up
Do you remember your first car?
I do — a 1986 Honda Accord with a moonroof and power windows. The radio wasn't that great, but it had a tape player, which I thought was the coolest thing next to the moonroof and power windows.
I bought that Accord after my senior year of high school. While playing a legion baseball tournament in Minnesota Lake, the moonroof went out on me and it rained that night. This was my first mechanical experience with a car, and needless to say, if it happened again, I'd be able to fix that moonroof.
Of course, I've had a few vehicles since that Accord. Starter cars are a must if you plan on respecting what you come to own later in life.
But, until recently, I've never owned a boat. I always imagined my first boat as a 14-footer with a one-armed bandit for a motor. I've operated plenty of those boats, but never had I owned one.
Now I'm the proud owner of a 1988 Lund Tyee — with a blown motor. I have no mechanical skills when it comes to boats, much like I had no mechanical skills when I bought that Accord. Yet I'm still very excited to get started.
This boat has a steering wheel, depth finder, trolling motor and a livewell — the equivalent of the moonroof and power windows from that Accord. It was my brother-in-laws starter boat before it became mine.
He upgraded to a new Lund Tyee, which is a beautiful boat by the way. I look at all the outings I had in his old boat, my new boat, and I feel fortunate to be able to start with this Lund. I also look at his ability to upgrade after paying his dues with an older boat, and I'm excited to know that I'll learn what I need to learn now, so some day I can upgrade to a newer boat, as well.
But for now, I'm learning; I'm learning about motors, I'm learning about boating regulations, and soon I'll be learning to back up a boat trailer. If it goes anything like the small trailers I backed up when I worked at U-Haul, well, I'm probably screwed.
So if you see me in the near future struggling at a boat landing, make sure you come up and laugh in my face. And then, after you gather your composure, reassure me that you were once a rookie at the boat launch, too, and that everything will get better.
Choice reading
We're in that time of summer where we get bogged down by hot weather (not so much this year), summer plans and life in general. For me, this means very little fishing. But I'm still able to get in some reading from time to time, and I came across a great bass article from Russ Bassdozer on weed fishing. Don't let the bass angle in this article throw you, because plenty of fish like the weeds.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Frustration
Well, apparently I'm a liar.
I still don't have results for last weeks Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourney. I talked with Tim Hobbs last week, but results weren't available. He really couldn't talk much about it that night because he was busy.
But since our last talk, we both keep missing each other. So I will continue to try and track down results. Perhaps I'll give Stu McKee a call and see how he and Roger Kramer did and how they feel about the season to date.
Berkley's Gulp Alive
John Cross wrote about the Gulp! Alive! minnows in Sunday's edition of the Free Press. John's old school, and he has great journalism ethics and beliefs. If any of you caught his column, he didn't name the little minnows he invested $20 in.
His point is that he's just like every other non-pro, and he has to pay for his lures. And since he pays for his lures, well, the manufacturer can just buy ad space in the paper if it wants marketing.
Now, I'm not making fun of John here or belittling what he wrote. I definitely have learned a lot from that man. I rather enjoyed the column, and I'm sure he figured many people knew exactly what artificial wonder he was talking about.
But here on the blog, I've come to believe that the more that I can offer you in way of links and other tidbits, the more informed you can become. And like John, I realize a good many people knew instantly that he was talking about Gulp! Alive!.
However, a reader e-mailed me a few weeks back asking me to break down some basics to fishing. This reader said the Internet can be overwhelming at times, and often fishing articles and columns are written for the more advanced fisherman.
So for the few out there who didn't know what artificial bait John was talking about ... well, now you know.
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