Catholic Hotdish

I know this sounds strange, but I put my fishing boat in the water for the first time this season just the other day. On Monday evening, I took it to Lake Johanna in Arden Hills to make sure everything was running OK. Our family is going up north to the Brainerd area on July 22 for a week, so it’s always nice to check things out before a trip.

As I was backing the trailer into the water, I thought of something that needed to be done and hit the brake. With all of the straps unfastened, the back end of the boat dropped down and the bottom of the motor hit the concrete ramp.

Not good. Not good at all. Before even looking, I knew what I would  discover – a bent skeg. This is the triangular shaped fin at the very bottom of the motor, directly in front of the propeller.

The last time my skeg got bent, I had to pay $140 to get it fixed. Needless to say, I was not happy. In fact, today I went to confession to ask God’s forgiveness for the vocabulary I used after the mishap.

Despite the problem, I knew I could still drive the boat, so I dropped it in the water and tried to start it. It took a while, but I finally got it going. As I motored out on the lake with my son, William, and his friend, I noticed the boat pulling noticeably to the right. This is the classic symptom of a bent skeg.

So, that night, I went online to find a repair shop. I had been to one in Brooklyn Park for the first repair, but that’s a long ways, and it’s only open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Very inconvenient for me. It would mean no option of going on evenings or weekends.

Further searching produced a place called Propulsion, Inc. in Hudson, Wis. It’s open earlier in the morning (8 a.m.), plus on Saturdays. I called and talked to Dan Cremin. He was very helpful, and said I could come in the next morning and the shop mechanics could squeeze me in. He thought there was a good chance they could pound the skeg back straight again.

Excellent! I arrived there at 8:30 yesterday morning, and Dan got me in right away. In about 15 minutes, the job was done. And, here’s the best part – it only cost $15.

Needless to say, I was thrilled. This is a shop I can highly recommend. Dan did a great job of customer service, and I thanked him profusely.

He seemed a bit surprised by my praise.

“Usually, people don’t like to see us,” he said. They come in angry because they damaged their prop or lower unit and aren’t happy about paying an unexpected sum of money to fix the problem.

I get that. I wasn’t happy when I first bent the skeg, but I walked away satisfied because I knew I would have had to pay a lot more if the skeg had cracked while the mechanic was pounding on it. Dan had warned me that this could happen.

Thankfully, it didn’t. Now, I have a boat that’s in good working order, and a soul that’s clean, thanks to a priest I had lunch with today who was gracious enough to hear my confession.

Fortunately, there is no charge to straighten a bent soul.

I know we’re only a few weeks into the fishing season, but those who can switch gears to the fall hunting season could reap some big savings.

Last week, I got an email from my friend, Steve Huettl, general manager at Gamehide clothing, alerting me to a big clothing sale the company is putting on. It’s tomorrow (Wednesday) and Thursday at North Trail Elementary in Farmington. It goes from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow, and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday.

This sale happens about every five years or so, Steve said, and there will be lots of clothing available at very low prices. Gamehide is calling it a Factory Direct Sample and Overstock Sale, and there will be parkas, bibs, rainwear, accessories and more at the sale, in both camo and blaze orange color patterns. In addition to men’s sizes, there also will be youth and women’s sizes available. So, you can bring your whole family.

Of course, with any sale, it pays to come early. I’m good on camo clothing for now, but may come to help shop for others. I use Gamehide clothing, as do all three of my boys. My oldest two, Joe and Andy, have summer jobs at the Gamehide warehouse, so they are able to get stuff because they are employees.

These days, I have had to learn to be extremely thrifty with everything, so I always look for sales when buying gear. I can tell you through experience, Gamehide clothing is high quality. So, not only will you get a low price, but you’ll get stuff that will last. I’m on my sixth year of a set of camo rainwear, and it is still holding up well. One key is to not wash it too often and use soap specially designed for hunting clothes. Normally, it’s the no-scent soap bowhunters use, but it also reduces fading caused by stronger soaps.

It’s hard to find good prices on hunting apparel before the season, but this could be your best opportunity. It might even be worth leaving work a little early. Just remember that you likely will have to wait at least five more years to find prices this low on Gamehide clothing again.

I read an interesting article in my current issue of Outdoor News yesterday. The topic was new technology in depth finders for fishing. With advanced GPS mapping and side viewing functions, anglers can see more and more detail in the water than ever before.

The author, a muskie fisherman, said how he used it to find a small rockpile on a point that went from 20 to 40 feet. Soon afterward, he learned that muskies related to this rockpile throughout the summer. That ultimately helped him catch more fish, which is the idea of these advancements in electronics.

Of course, such technology comes with a hefty price tag, which means that the high-end units likely won’t be mounted to my console anytime soon.

But, there’s a bigger reason why I am reluctant to employ such devices: I’m old-school when it comes to fishing. I got my start before flashers were even invented, and quite a few years went by before my Dad purchased the famous Lowrance “green box.”

I still have one of those units in my garage and may actually use it this summer. The most sophisticated device I have on my boat is a Vexilar flasher. An improvement over the Lowrance, but it does essentially the same thing.

Though the new technology would undoubtedly help me catch more fish, I’m not drawn to it like others are. I have always had a fascination with the underwater world, and a big part of the appeal was the mystique.

I remember looking down into the clear waters of Lake Koronis in Stearns County as a youth and wondering what finned creatures were cruising the depths. And, whenever someone in the boat had a fish on, I would peer over the gunwale straining for the first glimpse of whatever it was on the end of the line.

That’s what captivated me about fishing. Still does. I think, if I knew too much about what that underwater world looked like, it might take away the sense of awe and wonder that I’ve always had about it.

In other words, I think it’s possible to know too much about what’s going on in the depths below. That can take away the element of surprise – not knowing when or where a fish will strike. Playing this guessing game is a big part of the appeal for me.

Same goes for trail cameras used by hunters. I would rather not know that a particular buck walks down a certain trail between 8 and 9 a.m. every day. I like the element of surprise – and, good, old-fashioned scouting to help you determine where deer travel.

Besides, once the rut kicks in, the predictable late summer and early fall deer movement patterns fall apart anyway. And, that’s just the way I like it.

I know that declining the use of some of this high-tech gear means I may end up going home empty-handed from the field or the lake, but it also keeps alive the mystery of what’s lurking in the woods and waters.

And, it makes success that much sweeter!

Sister Joyce Kolbet shot this nice tom April 26.

I got a great email this morning from School Sister of Notre Dame Joyce Kolbet, an avid turkey hunter who went out in the woods for Minnesota’s Season B last week.

She is the vocations director at the Our Lady of Good Counsel Campus in Mankato in the Diocese of New Ulm. I first met her in 2006 when I did a story on her fly-fishing exploits for The Catholic Spirit. We have tried to stay in touch, and I wanted to hear how she did last week, so I sent her an email requesting details of her time in the woods.

She hunted hard all week and finally was rewarded with a nice tom Thursday morning about 8:45 a.m. After spending the first three days near Good Thunder, someone she knew offered her a chance to hunt a different area where birds were hanging out.

She got there the night before and saw a bunch of birds roosted in some trees on the property. A blind already was set up – only 80 yards away.

A perfect setup, except for one thing – the turkeys didn’t cooperate the next morning.

“Nothing came out at sunrise,” she said. “I thought for sure they would come out in my direction and walk out into this alfalfa field where I was set up.”

But, turkeys being the unpredictable birds they are, they threw a curve ball at Sister Joyce and went in another direction. Fortunately, she has learned one of the hardest lessons in this sport – patience. Thus, she stayed put in the blind and waited for another opportunity.

Around 8 a.m., she heard a gobble in the distance. She did some yelps on her slate call and waited. Then, she heard another gobble, closer this time. Once more, she did a soft call on her slate and put it down. She was done calling.

Finally, she caught sight of the tom walking along the edge of the woods toward her blind at about 90 yards. When it reached 46 yards, she fired, ending a hard four days of hunting.

Sister Joyce hunted with three others, and they spent lots of time in the woods near Good Thunder throughout each day last week. But, gobbles and bird sightings were rare. The three others stayed in the area after she left, and one of them shot a year-old gobbler, called a jake. That was it.

“I can’t figure it out,” she said. “We talked to other hunters out in that area and people just had not seen birds, or heard them.”

Good thing she switched areas. Sometimes, that makes all the difference. And, it’s one more way that experienced hunters can get their bird. Too often, inexperienced hunters keep trying the same things over and over again, hoping for different results. But, sadly, those results often don’t come.

For Sister Joyce, who has been turkey hunting since about 1996, she gets a bird about every other year she hunts. That’s a 50 percent success rate, almost double the statewide average of about 25 percent. So, congratulations to Sister Joyce on a well earned bird!

My turn comes Wednesday in Wisconsin. I’ve got some great properties to hunt, and I’m hoping the weather will cooperate. Right now, it looks like some storms are going to come in Tuesday night and possibly last into Wednesday morning. I will set up a blind this afternoon and wait out the rain on Wednesday. Doesn’t sound like it will rain all day, so the birds will move once it quits. But, it is supposed to warm up to 80 degrees or even a little more. Turkeys aren’t fond of extreme heat, yet they should be active at least in the morning.

And, I’ll be waiting for them!

Q: Do you have a turkey hunting story from this spring?

This year’s early and warm spring is mostly good. But, there is a downside, which I encountered about two weeks ago.

As I was walking around on a property where I got permission to hunt turkey and deer, I picked off a tick. These little buggers came early this year, and I was not pleased to find one so soon. With the Wisconsin youth turkey hunt coming this weekend, it’s time to find a solution.

Fortunately, that part is easy. I merely will put on my ElimTick clothing and not have a worry in the world. The product was developed by a company called Insect Shield, which owns the patent and manufactures clothing that repels ticks and other insects. Gamehide is a brand partner and incorporates the fabric developed by Insect Shield into its camouflage clothing. That makes it perfect for spring turkey hunting, which is when ticks are the worst.

I became aware of ElimiTick two years ago because my friend, Steve Huettl, is Gamehide’s general manager. The company has been selling it for three years, and Steve has been using it himself for four. The first time he tried it, he went out into the woods with another Gamehide employee who also was wearing ElimiTick, plus several others who weren’t. One was a youth who counted 58 ticks he pulled off that day.

I have used it for two full seasons, and only once did a tick get under the clothing and attach itself to my leg. I have been in the  worst places for ticks at the worst times, so I estimate the success rate is well above 90 percent, and actually pretty close to 100. I’ll take that any time. Steve said he has never had a tick bite him while wearing the clothing.

But, there are a few key points to know:

1. Ticks may crawl onto the surface of the garment at times, but they eventually drop off without biting. Somehow, the tick I discovered last year had crawled underneath the pants and up my leg.
2. The pants, especially the bottom, are critical. Buying them a little long can be helpful, and be careful whenever you sit down, as the pants can ride up your leg and expose your skin. That’s probably what happened to me, and made me vulnerable to ticks.
3. You can wash them as often as you want. They are said to be good through 70 washings, but Steve told me the tick repellent will last the life of the garment. In his words, “the garment will fall apart” before the repellent quits working.
4. It also repels mosquitos.

The good news for turkey hunters is the clothing is easy to find. You can buy it online directing from Gamehide, or check out these local retailers that carry it – Mills Fleet Farm, Joe’s Sporting Goods (St. Paul), Capra’s Sporting Goods (Blaine), Cabin Fever (Victoria) and All Seasons Sports (Delan0).

I just ordered a set for my son, William, who is going out turkey hunting this weekend. I want to know that both of us are protected. Ticks that get attached to your skin are bad enough, but what’s worse is the threat of Lyme Disease. I have talked to a few people recently who have had it, and it’s not something I ever want to get.

That’s why I’ll be wearing ElimiTick on my turkey hunts this spring. Then, instead of being distracted by ticks crawling all over me and trying to pick them off while staying still, I can focus on working a gobbler into shotgun range.

Lord knows, that’s hard enough!

Q: How much of a problem have ticks been for you?

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?

For those interested in hunting wild turkeys in Wisconsin this spring, now’s the time to act. Surplus tags went on sale today and the information on availability is on Wisconsin’s DNR website. Beginning today, permits went on sale. Today is designated for Zone 1, tomorrow Zone 2, Wednesday Zone 3, Thursday Zone 4 and Friday Zones 5, 6 and 7. Then, on Saturday, tags in all seven zones will be available.

I got picked in the lottery for Zone 4, Season D. I bought my license over the weekend, and can buy more tags, which I did last  year. You are allowed one per day. I think I will buy a second license for Zone 4, Season D so I can take more than one bird during my season. Last year, I had two young toms come in together (called jakes), and I was able to take them both. The meat on these juvenile birds is delicious, so it was nice to take home two birds.

It’s a nice deal, as the nonresident bonus tags cost only $15 each. I bought my original tag for $65, so I can have two for $80. That’s a great deal in my book. Other states charge much more. I paid $175 in Missouri (where I got skunked several years ago), and Iowa is even more. I think the hunting is every bit as good in Wisconsin, plus it’s as shorter drive. Not only that, for less money, I can have more tags than either Iowa (limit of one tag) or Missouri (two).

So, for me, the choice is easy – I’ll be turkey in Wisconsin this spring. And, of course, I’ll be getting a tag in Minnesota, too. I will hunt Season E. And, for the first time, I’ll be able to get the tag for this season over the counter rather than through the lottery.

My only concern at this point is the ridiculously early spring, which could potentially move the breeding up on the calendar. This happened two years ago and, by mid May, the toms were fizzling out and much harder to call in. My Wisconsin season begins May 2, and I hope the gobblers will still be plenty active then.

I took some time yesterday to do some deer scouting down in Goodhue County. I found a new piece of property to bow hunt, and I will be taking my disabled friend, John Nesheim, out this fall. The plan is to set up several spots for both of us to hunt, then hunt together during the archery season.

We actually have two pieces of private property – at least John does. One landowner gave both of us permission to hunt, while his next-door neighbor will just allow John to hunt. That’s fine with me. There are plenty of good spots on the one piece we both have permission to hunt, which is about twice as big as the other.

This will work out great because John is the only one who will be hunting the one piece, so he will get a chance at unpressured deer. That’s always the ideal. And, I can set up on the other piece near the border of the piece John will hunt. Thus, we both will end up being able to hunt unpressured deer.

My friend, Rod, and I walked the larger property and found several good-looking spots. Now, we have to get some stands and ground blinds set up. It would be nice to do this before the trees green up, but we won’t have long before that happens, with the weather warming up fast.

I hope to get out there again in the next week or so. Meanwhile, after we finished hiking around, we went to Rod’s place in Red Wing and had a nice venison dinner. I made one of my favorites – venison cheeseburger on a stick. It included two of his favorite ingredients: ketchup and bacon. It was delicious.

After dinner, we headed outside for some archery shooting. That proved to be an amazing experience. Rod said we were going to try shooting at longer distances like 40, 50 yards and even more.

I freaked at the idea of shooting at such long range. I shoot at 20 yards about 90 percent of the time, and only rarely have tried 40 yards – never 50.

The results proved shocking to me. After painting a black bullseye on his target block about the size of a softball, I tried shooting at 20, 30, 40 and, finally, 50 yards. I was worried about even hitting the block, which is about 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall, at that distance.

Turns out, I did much better. The first few shots, I was within about 6 inches of the black mark. Then, a little later, I actually put one in the bullseye and the others close to it. Finally, on my last group of three shots, I put them ALL of them inside the bullseye.

Needless to say, my confidence took a big leap forward. As Rod pointed out, it’s not so much that I will necessarily try to shoot at a deer  50 yards away. It’s more that I will feel much more confident at shorter distances like 20 yards. I have heard many times that the average length of an archery shot at a deer is about 18 yards. I now am confident that I can make that shot.

Now, I need to keep shooting and get stands and blinds set up for the fall. Oh, and I’ve got a little turkey hunting to do in the next few weeks.

Q: What has been your favorite way to enjoy this beautiful stretch of weather we’re having?

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.

The hunting season is over, but the wild game cooking season is underway!

For me, this is the payoff of a successful deer hunt — lots of good venison dishes to eat. Now that I have a freezer full of prime deer meat, I have turned my attention to preparing it for family and friends. One of my favorite menu items is venison meatloaf. My wife, Julie, found an awesome recipe for venison meatloaf on a website called allrecipes. I have made it twice already, and I gave some away as Christmas gifts to some of my family members. It was a hit last year, so I decided to try it again. One nice thing is it’s very easy to make.

Two of the key ingredients are Ranch dressing and French Fried onions. I know the Ranch dressing sounds odd, but it works. Here’s the recipe: