What's that stink?!

Some people may think the stink coming from Big Jefferson is the blue-green algae that has dominated the lake.

But after Tuesday's walleye tournament on the eastern half of the Jefferson Lakes chain, the smell might actually be attributed to the skunk the anglers left behind.

That's right. Not a single walleye was caught during last Tuesday's tournament, something that hasn't happened in some time.

"I think we've gone two years without catching anything," Tim Hobbs said. "It does make it interesting though because it basically double the pot for German Lake."

Basically, Hobbs said the tournament money paid in for Big Jeff carries over to German Lake, where a variety of things could happen. If only one team is lucky enough to catch fish and win the German Lake tournament, that team would win all of the money carried over from Big Jeff plus first place in the German tournament. The second and third place prizes from German would then carry over.

No matter what, the money from Jeff will be paid out provided someone catches fish at German. Even if multiple teams catch fish, that money will be paid accordingly from the first tournament.

Stu McKee and Roger Kramer lead the Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourneys for top team. Unofficially, they have registered 30 points. Bill Holland and Dan Griep, week 1 winners, trail McKee and Kramer by a point and are situated at 29 points.

There are four tournaments left in the season before the year-end tournament. With a return to Washington, I think the top prize is still pretty wide open. McKee and Kramer took in four walleyes at Washington, one less than Holland and Griep, but their total weight was nearly 2 pounds more than Holland and Griep.

I imagine Washington, unless something drastic happens on German, will be where this season's top team is decided. But still, four tournaments are a lot, and anything can happen.

Weed control

Hobbs said, surprisingly, that a lot of the weed cover at Big Jefferson has either died off or been cut down. He said weeds weren't the issue with the anglers this past Tuesday, but he couldn't place a finger on what attributed to the slow bite.

Having not seen the lake in nearly two weeks, I'm not sure what to think. Generally in July we see a lot of area lakes start to shed some of the weeds that give us trouble in late spring and early summer, so Hobbs comment that the weeds weren't bad shouldn't be too surprising.

But the mass of weeds I saw on that lake has me surprised that the die-off is happening so quickly. And I'm a little unsure about the weeds being cut, because as I've stated before, if we were in 13 feet of water, we were in 13 feet of weeds. Who's out in the deeper stuff cutting the weeds?

I wouldn't be, that' for sure. But I know near shore, several property owners have been cutting and raking weeds, which must be a pain in the you know what. Weeds will always be a part of fishing, good, bad or otherwise. 

But those weeds ... well that's not right.

Waiting for word

I'm still waiting to hear back from Tim Hobbs on the Tuesday Nite Walleye Tourney at East Jefferson.

I'm a little nervous for the participants, because after what I saw on that lake, the fishing had to have been tough.

Weeds, weeds and more weeds.

Of course, a good majority of the guys fishing these tournaments know a thing or two about walleye fishing. I'm sure at least one of the teams in the top 5 caught fish, but I won't know that until I talk to Tim.

On another note, I took my son fishing yesterday. These outings offer little time for me to fish, but they are fun for him — well, sort of.

About two weeks ago we couldn't get him to fish with worms, which we all know will allow him to catch something, even if that something is a carp or a bullhead.

Tyler wanted to fish like Daddy, so he kept reeling in his bobber set-up and casting it out. Then he'd reel it back in again.

"Like Daddy."

So I threw on a beetle spin for him because I figure that's just an easy lure to catch fish with. Well, in the two outings since switching to the beetle spin, he's been skunked (though my wife lost something yesterday that Tyler surely would have been able to reel in, had she set the hook).

When we left he was mad because, "I just want to catch a big fish!"

Of course, explaining to him patience is a failed experiment. He's a month shy of 3. But the fact that he can cast his little Spider-Man pole, and cast the beetle spin for distance, well that's worth every minute of being out there for ol' dad.

We can't predict what our children will grow up to be or what interests they will have. We can't push our children into the things we want them to love either; history has shown us this is a blueprint for failure.

But we can show our children the things we love with hopes that someday, they grow their own love for those things. Tyler may not be catching fish hand over hand, but he definitely shows an interest.

For that, I'm thankful.

One heck of a grand prize

I'm not much into scratch-off games. The Powerball either, although I waste a few dollars every time the money gets outrageous.

I like gambling, occasionally, but when I first came to Mankato, I learned a lot about gambling and why not to.

I sold pull tabs, which at the time had a 6 percent chance of payout. I'm not sure if those odds are the same, but I'm sure it is close. Those are horrible odds when you consider if you buy 100 tickets, you may only walk away with six $1 winners, provided you landed in that 6 percent range.

But scratch-off games likely do have better odds. I could look those up for all of you, but I think you get where I'm going with this. I like to add skill to the things I compete in. I like to think. That's why I like games like Texas Hold 'em, or why I'm drawn to fishing.

So when Rapala and the Minnesota State Lottery teamed up for Fishin' for Fortune, I really didn't have an interest in playing. But many did, and many lost. Yet five of those first-time losers landed bigger payouts when they actually followed through and sent in their losing tickets for second-chance winnings.

Last Tuesday, June 23, five people from across Minnesota got a chance to compete in a shopping spree at the Rapala wharehouse in Eagan. Two of those winners walked away with $5,000 in Rapala gear.

Unreal. Just think of all the tackles and accessories a person could stock up on if they won. Basically, to win, the contestants had to fill up their carts with Rapala products, and the closest one to $1,000 won the five grand in merchandise.

The grand-prize winners were Gene Provost of Alexandria and Glenn Henrikson of Moorhead. Three other finalists each won a $500 Visa gift card.

Well, I might not like the odds here either, considering the five finalists were picked out of a draw of more than 10,000 losing tickets, but I definitely like the prizes they walked away with.