May 14, 2015
The beaver pond below our house saw the ice melt off on April 11. Overnight, the mallards and robins appear and the sounds of spring are in the air. On nearby Blueberry Lake, the ice went out on April 13, about one week earlier than the historical average. Most of the larger Ely area lakes were open a week later, so all in all, we have had a nice, early spring.
It has been great to run the dog through the woods before green up and the bugs take over. We are getting one or two grouse points an outing so hopefully, they will have a good nesting season and there will be some birds to hunt come October. I have had time to brush some trails and work on laying in another winter’s wood supply.
In early May, I enjoyed travelling to southeast Missouri to hunt turkeys. BWJ subscriber Kerry Holloway and his brother Eugene graciously put me up, fed me like a king and guided/called for me each morning. Despite their best efforts, my turkey hunting curse continues and I came home empty handed. Michele showed me how it’s done by shooting another gobbler all on her own in southern Minnesota.
I start my guiding season next week and will be doing four straight 8 day Quetico fishing trips. I will try to check back in between trips. Everything points to great late-May smallmouth action this year and I am anxious to get my clients into the big bass again. I still have openings for my July 6-13 Quetico trip and one spot open for the Sutton River brook trout trip – August 3-12.
Best of luck to all of you heading out into the Boundary Waters soon. Be safe out there.
March 17, 2015---BWJ Blog Entry
A week-long 55 degree heat wave has put a serious hurt on winter in the Ely area. I get my daily dose of nature by running my bird dog Custer through our back forty and out onto the surrounding Superior National Forest. I can hike 3-5 miles in several directions without hitting any road or other private property. The snow is mostly gone anywhere the sun can get at it. It always feels great to have your boots hitting paydirt again. The ice on the beaver ponds is dark and about to go out. What a difference from the past two winters which hung on well into May with ice on the larger lakes for fishing opener. That won’t happen this year. What we will be looking at this spring is very low water conditions and high fire danger. Unless we get substantial timely rain after the frost goes out, it will be explosive until green up.
I spent the weekend as an exhibitor and presenter at the Canoecopia Show in Madison, Wisconsin. The show is a good cure for cabin fever and it is always fun for me to visit with so many loyal fans of Boundary Waters Journal. When you make your living helping others enjoy the wilderness experience, it is always very rewarding to hear from them in person that you have made a real difference in their trips. My presentations were very well attended so that was great to see as well. I focused on trying to inspire folks to raise the level of their own wilderness canoe tripping game. You can get the gist of my presentation from the article I wrote in the Spring BWJ on “Wilderness Canoe Tripping At The Highest Level”. The Spring 2015 issue of BWJ goes in the mail today so you can all watch for your own cure for spring fever.
I still have openings for two July trips for my Grand Slam Guide Service so give me a call if interested in joining me. Also, this is the last call for anyone wishing to participate in our FREE BWJ TRIPS Planning Service where I can mark up your own maps with all the detailed portage, campsite and fishing info of your route. Once May comes, I am “in the woods” until November.
I am hoping for an early spring so I can get out and brush trails, work on a new food plot of clover for the deer and get my supply of firewood all put up for next winter. I am also planning to do a Missouri turkey hunt in April as well. I really miss that as I have not turkey hunted the past 5 years.
I am sure we will have a few March/April snowstorms yet but winter’s back has been broken and overall it has been a relatively easy winter. Just what the Doctor ordered for our area deer herd. This week I will haul out all of my fishing tackle and go through everything. It is time to get all of that in order because fishing season will be here before you know it. I will check back when spring arrives for good.
