Catholic Hotdish

I just found out about a huge fish called the Shawano Sturgeon that was discovered by the Wisconsin DNR in the Wolf River near Shawano on Tuesday, acc0rding to a report by City Pages.

The fish measured more than 7 feet long, weighed 240 pounds and was estimated to be 125 years old. I can’t imagine hooking this giant and trying to reel it in. A few years ago, my friend, Pete Wolney, hooked a big sturgeon while we were fishing for walleyes on Lake of the  Woods. These fish are known to produce long battles, and Pete finally cut his line when it became clear he was going to need lots of time to heave this behemoth aboard.

Probably a good thing, as there’s not much you can do with this fish. Besides, sturgeon were out of season at the time Pete hooked one, so he would have had to release it anyway.

Sounds like the DNR had a good time measuring and examining this fish, which had deposited more than 30 pounds of eggs into the river.

Boy, I wonder how much a 125-year-old walleye would weigh.

The Big Green Egg on display at the Kitchen Window booth at the Northwest Sportshow.

Got a chance to check out the Northwest Sportshow Friday afternoon. It was about the only time I could make it, and I’m glad I did.

Though I only was able to spend about two hours, it was well worth the trip. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Re-connecting with old friends. Early on in my rounds, I bumped into pro bass fisherman Gary Lake. Years ago, while at Sun Newspapers in the western suburbs, I met Gary and wrote about him in my fishing column. I had the pleasure of fishing with him a few times, and I was able to learn some things from him. I hadn’t seen him in a long time, so it was good to run into him. We both agreed to get out on the water this summer. That will be fun!

I also saw Steve Carney, a fishing guide who also is from my days at the Sun. I have kept in touch with him, and I read his weekly columns in Outdoor News. He’s a straight shooter who tells it like it is. If he does well on the water or in the woods, he says so. If he doesn’t, he says that, too. I have always liked that about him, and respect him a great deal for it. He said he had his best ice fishing season ever this winter, which followed his worst bow hunting season ever in Wisconsin. I told him I might be able to help him with that. I suggested we talk more about it on the water sometime. I sure hope he takes me up on that!

2. Discovering the Big Green Egg. Recently, I had heard about a form of barbecue grill called the Big Green Egg. It has been around for while, but I only have heard of it recently. It’s a charcoal grill, but quite a step up from my Weber. For one thing, you can seal it tight so that the moisture stays inside. That means meat won’t dry out so fast. Second, it has a thermometer mounted in the lid so you always know what the temperature is. And, it’s easily regulated by adjusting the air vent on top. Finally, it uses real charcoal, which gives the meat better flavor.

I learned all of this from a booth run by a store that sells Green Eggs: Kitchen Window in Minneapolis at Calhoun Square. Not only does this store sell the Green Egg, but it also teaches people how to use it. The down side is that these are very spendy grills. There are four sizes, from small all the way to extra large. The large costs $800, which is mighty steep for a grill. I’m not really in a financial position to buy one now, but owning one is now a dream.

Getting a few fishing tips. I’m always on the lookout for tips that will help me put more fish in the boat. I talked with a guy from Pure Fishing and we got on the subject of swimbaits. I first heard about these from In-Fisherman Magazine a few years back. Basically, they are a soft plastic crank bait that you put onto a large jig head and reel in at a steady pace rather than lift and drop it from the bottom. According to editor Doug Stange, all species love these baits, especially walleyes. I have dabbled with them a few times and caught some fish, but always wanted to use them more.

Mike Baumgartner, a Pure Fishing rep, gave me a few tips on how to use them. Like Stange, he said swimbaits can be dynamite at times. He uses them throughout the summer and into the fall. He says once you are set up correctly, they are easy to fish. In fact, he often takes novices out fishing with them, and they catch as many fish as he does.

The key, he said, is to fish them in weeds. That is where they are most effective. And, that is where walleyes spend a surprising amount of their time. And, in many cases, these fish are untouched by other anglers, who frequent  rocks, sand and gravel. So, you’re getting unpressured fish that are in the weeds for one reason – to eat!

That short encounter made me really want to give them a try this summer. Mike has had success on Leech Lake, where there are lots of large cabbage beds. The nice thing about swimbaits is you can cover lots of water. But, there’s one important rigging tip – use a wire leader. Mike says pike love swimbaits, too, and you’ll get bit off many times and lose lots of baits unless you use a  wire leader. Amazingly, that piece of hardware does not scare off walleyes.

No turkey tips

Here’s the surprise of this year’s show – I did not get any turkey hunting tips. I always enjoyed visiting the AmmoCraft & Gobbler Specialties booth owned by Ron Becker, who has a store in Hopkins. But, he stopped coming several years ago. Fortunately, I was able to buy a call from him that is my No. 1 call for turkey hunting. It is made by Quaker Boy and is a very simple push-button call that has proven very effective for me. In fact, I called in two toms with it last spring. It’s called the Pro Push Pin Yelper and sells for about $20. For me, it has been worth every penney. It has brought in several birds to gun range, and it is very easy to use. That is very important when you have a gobbler closing in and are so nervous your hands are shaking.

That’s exactly what happened to me last spring when I called in a nice, double-bearded gobbler in Wisconsin. He responded to a yelp from my box call, then cut the distance in half minutes later and gobbled again. That’s when I pulled out my Pro Push Pin Yelper and hit him with some soft calls, clucks and purrs, which are feeding sounds. He gobbled immediately, then circled to my right and entered a field, where he gobbled again.

Knowing he was likely to keep coming and end up in shotgun range, I grabbed the call to give him one more hen vocalization. When I looked down at my hand, it was shaking. Still, I was able to work the call just fine, and gave him another brief series of clucks and purrs. He gobbled two or three times, and came right in. My shot was only 20 yards.

I shared this story with Ron, who got a kick out of it. With the Wisconsin youth season coming up this weekend, I hope that my son, William, will have a similar experience. He has yet to shoot a bird, but I’m hoping he’ll get his first one on Saturday.

Q: What’s your favorite turkey hunting story?

The annual Northwest Sportshow is going on now at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis. Traditionally, it has been a don’t-miss event for me. I have been going off and on ever since I was in grade school.

I hope to make it again this year. Often, there is still snow on the ground, or it has just melted off. Not this year. The snow was gone by the end of the first week in March. But, that does not diminish my interest in the show. I realize I’ll have to act fast, as the show only goes through Sunday. Up until a few years ago, it used to run for nine days, and I would have plenty of time to go down.

For some reason, they squeezed it down to just five days. I have taken my dad a number of times, but not sure if that will work out this year. We have always enjoyed going together, but there’s so little time left that I have my doubts we can pull it off.

Still, even alone, I know I would enjoy it. I like seeing all of the booths for both fishing and hunting lodges, plus all of the gear. I’m not looking to make any major purchases, but it’s still fun to look. And, I may run into some of the people in the industry whom I have known for decades.

I’ll be curious to see if the early spring helps or hurts show attendance. After all, rather than just come to the show and talk about fishing and hunting, people actually can get out on the water or take a walk in the woods. Just this morning, I saw a big wild turkey tom displaying for a flock of hens. That gets my blood pumping for turkey hunting.

Going to the Sportshow will only make this disease worse!

Q: What do you enjoy most about the Sportshow?

Going back to late October, I have had accuracy issues with my compound bow. In about mid October, I went to Schaffer Performance Archery in Burnsville to get a new arrow rest developed by the shop owner, John Schaffer. It’s called the Opposition rest and it’s supposed to increase accuracy by minimizing the amount of contact with the arrow after at the string is released.

It seemed to work fine initially, but my accuracy started getting worse and worse, especially within the last month or so. Then, it hit rock bottom on Sunday when one of my arrows hit 4 feet left of the mark and 2 feet down at only 20 yards. Needless to say, I was freaked out.

So, yesterday afternoon, it was off to Schaffer Archery I went to look for answers. Surely, I hadn’t regressed in my shooting skills, I thought, rookie though I may be.

Thankfully, it took John a matter of seconds to diagnose the problem — a loose string dampening rod. It’s basically a plastic rod with a rubber piece on the end that is tightened down by screwing it into the back side of the bow. When the string is released, it eventually hits the dampening rod, which stops the string as the arrow leaves it. I hadn’t bothered to check the tightness in a while, and John discovered that it was very loose. That causes the rubber piece to turn and move which, in turn, causes erratic arrow flight like I had experienced.

John tightened the rod down and shot three arrows himself before handing the bow to me. Here’s the amazing part — John normally shoots left-handed, but he got a tighter group shooting right-handed with my bow at 20 yards than I ever had. In fact, two of the arrows he shot were touching.

Then, it was my turn. My three-shot groups weren’t as tight as his, but they were far better than I had been getting. On one series, I got a 2-inch group, with two of the arrows touching.

Hallelujah! “Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about,” I said to myself as I pulled the arrows out of the backstop. Now, here’s perhaps the best part of all — it only cost $10. John diagnosed the problem, tightened the rod and even adjusted my sight when we discovered that my arrows were hitting an inch or two to the right. I only had to pay a $10 range fee for shooting, which, in my opinion, was a small price for solving this aggravating problem.

I anticipate lots of better shooting ahead. Can’t wait to get out there with my newly repaired bow. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but reflect upon the experience and wonder if there are any loose string dampening rods in my spiritual life that are making my efforts to follow the Lord miss the mark. Perhaps, I can give that more thought when Lent begins on Feb. 22.

Father Rinaldo Custodio holds a stringer of trout caught during a trip to Colorado.

I had the pleasure of meeting Father Rinaldo Custodio, a retired priest of this archdiocese, last Friday at the Leo Byrne Residence for retired priests. I was there to photograph him for an upcoming special section on the Catholic Services Appeal.

After the photo shoot, we got to talking and he mentioned his love of the outdoors, specifically, fishing. He went on to describe an annual trip he takes with his friend, Tom Schwein. They met when Father Custodio was helping Tom and his wife, Susan (Krmpotich), prepare for marriage in 1985. She is originally from Minnetonka and the two were married in 1986 at Immaculate Heart of Mary in Minnetonka. The story of Tom’s friendship with Father Custodio began there.

“At the groom’s dinner, I gave Father Custodio a fly rod as a gift for performing our wedding ceremony,” Tom said. “He asked: ‘If I ever want to come out to Colorado to go fly fishing, would you take me?’ I said, ‘No problem, Father, just call me.’

“This past summer was Father Custodio’s 19th trip to Colorado to go fly fishing since 1986. But, this is no ordinary fishing trip. We generally have between six and 10 guys. We drive four hours from Denver up to the north central part of the state. The last 50 miles to get to the trail head is dirt road. We hire a guide to take us into the lake, which sits at 10,000 feet above sea level. The guide packs all of our gear on horses and drops us off at the lake. We generally go into the lake for four days.”

Despite being retirement age, Father Custodio has been able to withstand the rigors of the trip. And, he has been rewarded with fantastic fishing, which the photo above attests.

It’s really awesome to see retired priests enjoy the outdoors like this. After many years of service, I’m glad they can reap at least a small reward for their hard work.

Here’s hoping and praying Father Custodio will have many more fun trips to Colorado!

Dreams of walleyes danced in my head as my friend, Pete Wolney, and I headed north Sunday afternoon for two days of fishing on Lake of the Woods. It has been an annual fall event for about the last eight years, and we were hoping for some great action.

We try to time our trip when the shiners migrate from the lake into the Rainy River, with the walleyes following closely behind. It has proven tough to hit it right, which is why we scrutinize fishing reports throughout the month of October. Finally, we decided to pull the trigger and make the six-hour hike to Baudette.

The weather looked good, and we were eager to hit the river for what we hoped would be fast fishing. But, alas, an urgent family matter came up for Pete and we had to drive home Monday afternoon. We got to fish for just two hours before taking the boat out of the water. This was the last fishing trip of the season for both of us.

It was sad to have it end so quickly, but one bit of quick thinking helped us go home with some walleyes. Each of us caught one fish in the two hours we were out on the water. I caught a 13-inch walleye that we kept, and Pete got a 21-incher that we had to release because it was in the protected slot of 19 1/2 to 28 inches. I decided to ask the folks at Adrian’s Resort, where we stayed, if anyone had any extra fish we could take off their hands. One of the owners did some checking, and she came up with some for us.

So, after returning home, I did a fish fry for my wife, Julie, and two of our kids, Claire and William (my two oldest are off at college). Nothing beats fresh walleye in a frying pan. That definitely eased the pain of not being able to do much fishing.

Now, it’s on to deer hunting. I’ll be in my bow hunting stand tomorrow, then back in the woods Saturday for the firearms opener. Our hunting party goes to several properties near Red Wing, and the good news is all of the crops are harvested. That pushes deer into the woods — and brings them back out into the fields for spilled grain when it’s time to eat. We have stands positioned on the edge of the woods and we’ll be waiting for them.

So, things are looking good for the opener.

When I stopped in to see Michael and Anne Gross this morning, I did not expect to walk away with a bag full of jigs. That was a surprise ending to our brief visit.

I was there to drop off copies of The Catholic Spirit containing a front-page article about their daughter, Teresa, who took her own life almost a year ago, on Nov. 1, 2010. I also interviewed them on the air this morning on Relevant Radio.

When I handed them a dozen copies of the newspaper article with their story, we talked more about their journey through tragedy into healing and, ultimately, to helping others through an event they are organizing at their parish, St. Paul in Ham Lake. It takes place Saturday, Nov. 19 from 8 a.m. to noon (call 763-757-6910 for details or to register).

As we neared the end of our conversation, I happened to mention that I am going on a fishing trip (yes, fishing trip!) to Lake of the Woods on Sunday. When I told Michael, an avid fisherman himself, that we would be jigging for walleyes, he said that he makes his own and I was welcome to take some with me.

I couldn’t refuse the offer. For me, that would be special to catch a walleye (or six!) on one of his jigs. I felt as though the time I have spent talking with him over the last few weeks has created a bond. Not only have both of us lost someone (my first wife died of cancer in 1995), but we also share a love of the outdoors.

We talked about scheduling a fishing trip next summer. I’d love to see that happen. For now, I’ll head up north, tie on one of his jigs and see what happens. The fishing reports are good. According to one on the Sportsman’s Lodge website, the walleyes are running strong from the lake into the Rainy River and biting well.

That’s good news for me and my friend, Pete Wolney. We try to hit the river run of walleyes every fall. Looks like it’s here. I’ll do some bow hunting later today and again on Sunday morning, then it’s up to Lake of the Woods we go!

On Friday, I went on my annual fishing outing with my good friend, Dave Altman. We’ve had some great bass fishing trips over the years, and I was hoping this would be another. I like going out fishing with Dave because not only is he lots of fun to fish with, he’s also a very skilled angler.

I planned on putting his skils — and mine — to work on Lake Calhoun. By the time August rolls around, the bass are in their predictable summer pattern, which means they are schooled up on the weedlines.

It’s a pattern I have been able to count on year after year, except in cool summers like 2009, when temperatures never got very warm and the fish stayed shallow all summer. Fortunately, this year’s heat in July should have been enough to push the bass down deep.

Nice start

We tried our first spot on the south end of the lake, and Dave caught a nice 16-inch bass within the first 10-15 minutes. Just after he landed his, I hooked one and battled it for a few seconds before it spit the hook. I figured more fish would come after that.

Dave and I kept casting our jigs and plastic worms to the weedlines, hoping to get into a school of bass. We threw a marker buoy out near this spot, in the hope that there would be a bunch of fish to catch.

Action slows

To our surprise, that was the best — and only — flurry of the day. We plied the waters on the south end, hitting spots that have, in years past, yielded fish in the 19- and 20-inch range. The best I could muster was a 16-incher that matched Dave’s first fish. I caught a smaller one and lost a few others, and Dave never landed another bass.

I think there were three contributing factors to the tough fishing:

1. A cold front came through right as we were fishing. The wind shifted from the southwest to the northwest, and the cloud cover lifted, leaving a clear blue sky. Cold fronts are notorious for shutting down the fishing, and this outing was proof.

2. The weed growth was way down. I’m not sure why, but the growth of eurasian watermilfoil was extremely stunted on all of the Minneapolis city lakes this year. Even though it got very hot in July, and the usual milfoil harvest did not take place because of the government shutdown, the weedgrowth was very thin. In fact, I did not see any that had reached the surface, which is a trademark of this weed. That has been the case the last three years, which makes me think it is dying out on the lake. The sailing enthusiasts are happy about this, no doubt, but not me. The more weeds, the better the fishing has been for me.

3. The water clarity has diminished. Normally, I can see eight to 10 feet down in the clear waters of Lake Calhoun. Not this year. When we pulled out of the boat landing, you couldn’t see two feet down. At least for now, this is a stained lake. I’m sure that changes the pattern, too. And, unfortunately, I was not able to figure out what the pattern is.

Overall, the fishing has been tough for me this summer. I have had to work hard on every trip to catch fewer fish. I’ve got one fishing trip left this year, my annual trek to Lake of the Woods in the fall with my friend, Pete Wolney. Hopefully, I’ll finally hit the bonanza I’ve been waiting for.

In the meantime, I’ll continue to shoot my bow and get ready for the fall archery hunting season.

I deepened my appreciation for our bountiful fishery here in Minnesota after reading a recent article in Time Magazine about the state of our world fishery. The gist of the story is this — the ocean is getting fished out.

I have worried about that in recent years, and now, it seems, the facts confirm my suspicions. According to the Time article, the worldwide catch has been 90 million tons a year since the mid-1990s. That’s a lot of fish! And, not surprisingly, the seas cannot sustain such a staggering harvest.

Thank goodness we have fisheries managers in our state who have been paying attention to catch rates and have implemented restrictions that are keeping our lakes well stocked with fish — at least, for now.

At times, I do get frustrated with slot limits, especially when I am catching lots of walleyes that I have to throw back because they fall within a protected slot. After reading about the worldwide fish shortage, however, I will be sure not to complain about releasing fish. At least we have plenty of fish to throw back.

The answer for the global fish shortage is the fish farm. According to the article in Time, around half of the fish consumed around the world are raised in ponds and tanks. I’m sure most, if not all, Americans have eaten fish from farms, but I much prefer the wild variety.

And, best of all is when you eat what you catch yourself. But, with the global shortage in mind, I also will be just as glad to release fish for someone else to catch and eat.

In the meantime, folks involved in worldwide fisheries management may want to say a prayer to the One who filled the nets of those famous fishers of men who worked all night but came up empty.

Photo by Jonathunder

I finally got my first taste of bass fishing last Friday, July 22. I usually start earlier in the summer, but my schedule has been busy, plus the cold, wet weather made me think it would be better to wait until we had a stretch of hot, stable weather.

I’d love to be able to say that the bass were biting aggressively and that I plopped lots of them into my livewell, but that wasn’t the case. I had to work very hard, and many of the fish I caught were small. I did manage to catch two 18-inchers, one of which was nice and fat.

But, I had higher expectations than this for the lake I was fishing that day — Cedar Lake on the Calhoun chain in Minneapolis. I have caught fish all the way up to 21 inches on this lake, and hoped to get something in at least the 19- or 20-inch range.

What I saw on my way over to the lake made me wonder if the fishing was going to be tough. There was a noticeable lack of weed growth on all three lakes — Calhoun, Lake of the Isles and Cedar. Usually, by this time in the summer, there is a thick carpet of eurasian watermilfoil on all three of the lakes. But, for some reason, that’s not the case this year.

I have always found on these lakes that the more weeds there are, the better the fishing. So, once I saw the sparse weed growth, I figured I would be in for a tough day.

Turns out, I was right. I worked my way around the lake and tried to fish the edges of any weeds I found with Texas-rigged plastic worms and baits. I had some success, catching a fish here and there. But, I did not encounter any schools of fish. I wasn’t surprised. When the weed growth is scattered, so are the fish.

The hot bait of the day was a Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger Craw. I caught most of my fish on this bait after starting out with a Berkley plastic worm. Unfortunately, I only had four of the Chigger Craws with me and the fish tore them all up.

I’ll be sure to buy another package before my next outing. I hope to fish Lake Calhoun in August. Even though the weed growth is thin on this lake, I usually can catch some fish. Generally, when the sweet corn is showing up at stands across the state, the bass are going on Calhoun.

Bring on the corn, and bring on the bass!