Life on a Minnesota Resort - Ely, Minnesota

Dark Skies in 5 Miles from the Canadian Border

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sun, 06 Jul 2025 18:55:00 +0000

Our skies are not only dark, they are pretty much pitch-black with regard to lights by man. We don't have many yard lights and our light pollution is virtually zero. Our lodge guests shoot photos of the Milky Way with their smartphones. Where else can you do that? The nearest town in our northern sky is Atikokan, Ontario, Canada at about 55 miles north. Other than that there no town within 100 miles to our East and Ely is the only other town to our west by slightly southwest. The same is true for many of out lodge gurests who go over to the Ojibway Lake public dock about 5 minutes south of us. No towns or lights. The entire sky is yours to see. Admission is free and unlimited.

We (who grew up right here for the past 60+ years) have taken our dark skies for granted. We also have always used flashlights. A while back, one of our kind guests actually suggested we light up Northwind Lodge with essentially "street lights" because it's "scary" walking around in the dark. We politely declined to follow through with this request. Hobos aren't a thing and wandering around in the dark with a bear walking in front of you is something you just can't get in the bigger metro areas. Don't worry. You'll be fine, In over 80 years, we haven't lost anybody to the dark yet. We always find them huddled and shivering in the morning just off the foot paths (kidding). Our darkness here in northern Lake County, MN is something you don't get to experience elsewhere and you should see how many of our guests wander down to the docks to look up in wonder at the our big sky to the north. Stars, satellites, the northern lights, constellations, meteors, and loons calling on the water. If you are not used to it, it can take your breath away. That, and bumping into a pitch-black bear in the total darkness (still kidding - although, it's not totally out of the question). Hey, we in real woods, not some city park. It's actually a lot safer here. (except for the occasional wolf - still kidding - however, we have no shortage of wolves who regularly pass through the property all year round. Our 8 lb. dog Delilah survived getting bitten but she was asking for it. Goofy dog...)

So, if you want to see something that is hard to see in any city, come out out and enjoy!

Call or text us at *218*235*9341* or *218*235*1951* for current cabin availability and
book your time to "come stumble around in the dark" You'll be gload you did!

The Bear and the SRAT at Northwind Lodge

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Thu, 11 Aug 2016 04:01:00 +0000

Right in the middle of frying some Jasper Lake sunnies that my dad gave me, I looked out to find the insolent Cookie (who refused to come inside) barking her round, stubborn, Pekingese head off at a nice-sized bear who was wandering into my view from the brush. The bear grabbed a chokecherry tree in front of the main doors of Red Rock and began daintily eating away at the nice plump cherries, deftly and efficiently stripping them off their stems. If it weren't for the dog ratcheting up the anti-bear rhetoric, I would have simply let him eat peacefully. After all, I was right in the middle of wrapping up the last batch of crispy fillets, flame on, oil hot. Of course, Cookie wasn't about to back down from a 200 lb. bear who was simply being a bear and not bothering anybody. She became more bellicose and started to approach the pitch black invader with the indignant, chest-forward stance of Pekingese determination and bravado. This bear was going down.

"Sure. Isn't THAT special!", I'm thinking. Cookie, you just can't back off from the bear for just another two lousy minutes while my fish get done! As she approaches, he begins to move and so do I. I shut off the burner so I don't light the house on fire, and call for "back up", I did, To prevent Cookie from becoming the furred snack of an avowed wild omnivore, I tell Delilah to get the bear, and down the basement steps we barreled full blast. In those 3 seconds it took me to get to the walkout door, I told Delilah again to "get the bear!" and noted that Cookie actually managed to turn him up the drive way. His slow pace took off into a trot when a crazy little brown animal took off after him, snarling and barking with tail up rigid and back fur pointing to the sky. The bear must have thought, "Wow - that's a scary rabbit!" and "Since when do rabbits bark!!!!?" He bolted into the woods and both mini-defenders of Northwind Lodge wisely stopped at the road's edge, neither being crazy enough to fight the bear on his own turf.

The bear a few minutes later, then appeared at my mom & dad's house. He was tall and well-proportioned. My mom called and I finished eating quickly (never can take my time-ever in the resort business) and brought the Scary Rabbit Attack Team (SRAT) with me. The bear was already gone in the 6 seconds it took me to cover that distance. Delilah nonetheless put on a show of speed, agility, and bear-scaring prowess as she smelled the air and ground that he walked on barking wildly. Cookie stood like a barrel-chested avenger and let out the occasional bark of righteous indignation. My dad then called them both into the house for bear-attacking treats and praise, but neither was all that interested. The adrenaline was running high and the bear was still out there...somewhere.
.
I'm got ready to go out and boldly light the Wednesday evening campfire at the waterfall. Looked like it was going to rain but it didn't. Both dogs remained snoozing indoors in the afterglow of an exhausting evening defending all that is right and good for the sake of Northwind Lodge.

At the fire, I heard from Hank in Cabin 7 that after he and his wife ate dinner, he was sitting on the deck reading when he looked up from his book to notice a bear standing about two feet from him. The bear was close enough to reach out and pat on the head. Hank jumped up and yelled which made Hank's dog jump up and yell from inside the cabin in response. Hank's wife Eileen came running from the inside to see what was going on outside. With all that commotion, the bear took off to the ash trees at the back end of the cabin. Positioned like a big letter V, the bear stepped up into the crotch of the two large trees and posed briefly like a centerfold model in a men's magazine. I think he was startled by Hank's golden retriever or maybe, Hank. Then the bear got out of the V and faded into the brush, Hank finally caught his breath. He said he's never been that close to a bear before.

One of the guests from Cabin 6, Joseph, observed that same bear on the back deck of Cabin 8, over at Cabin 5 raiding their garbage can, and by Cabins 4 and 3. The bear was covering some ground this evening. Hopefully, the bear will go away on his own. Unfortunately, he's not looking like he's extremely bothered by people which can be a problem. Fortunately, we have the SRAT. I may have to release the hounds yet again, tonight. After driving a 9 hour, 460 mile round trip to Atikokan, Ontario to pick up two new Souris River Canoes, it's been a long day.
I'm going to bed. Hopefully, so will the bear.

A Bit of the History of the Canoe Capital of the World - on a Painted Canoe

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 17:09:00 +0000

Two young guys just came in looking for tackle before their canoe trip. (Woohoo! Somebody younger than age 30 going on a canoe trip! Don't see that very often these days!) Unfortunately, we did not have what they were seeking, but they decided to wander around the store a bit.

They noticed the Painted Canoe of Ely and ended up circling it three times. One guy told his friend "this is the coolest thing I think I've ever seen."

Then they turned to me and asked who painted it and I told them it was me.

The next questions asked were about the resorts that used to be on Basswood, and where the logging train was located and why the Grumman Hellcat was on the bow deck plate and how many hours it took me to paint. One guy asked me if I knew about a resort that was a huge building and had flagstones remaining on the campsite today. I did. I lead him to Maple Leaf Lodge on the port side of the canoe. He actually recognized the little terraced walls that remain crumbling on the actual site, today. He and I both exchanged notes separated by almost thirty years and concurred that this specific site was nice but incredibly full of mosquitoes. Some things never change.

Maple Leaf Lodge in 1948 on Basswood Lake - Boundary Waters

The other guy said it was "so great" that for the first time ever, he was able to visually comprehend the past history of the region known today as the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. He said that he's seen bits and pieces but never was able to tie it all together as there is not a lot of information out there. One would need to read a bunch of different books and form a mental conclusion and while that is fun for some, it's less appealing to even me. After all, most are not seeking a PhD in BWCA history, but a simple greater understanding would be nice. Based on the comments thus far on the historical side of the canoe, I do believe I've accomplished that.
Our conversation ended with one of the guys taking pictures with his smart phone. Then onto their journey they continued, thanking me for the opportunity on the way out. It was a good experience for me as well.

Painted Canoes and Worn Out Shoes

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Fri, 20 May 2016 21:09:00 +0000

Just met a soft-spoken, unemployed civil engineer who, five years ago, decided that sitting around worrying about his lack of employment due to the "Depression' was not getting him anywhere so he started to walk across the country.

He's walked the eastern seaboard from Key West to Canada, some Pacific trail and several others. He was now walking from Missouri (his home and where his wife is located) to New York following trails and connecting roads. He had one midsized pack on his back and a couple of hiking poles with some serious miles on them.

I wanted to find out if he was a little nuts because he looked a little light in gear for the Kekekabic trail which is a four-day adventure in rugged terrain. I had recently spoken with a deputy sheriff from Lake County who had to go in a few weeks ago to rescue two guys who only brought with them a battery operated GPS (and no map or compass!!!) which they lost by dropping it when crossing a fast-running creek. It was fresh in my mind what can befall someone on the Kek trail when they get lost or the weather goes south quickly. I didn't want to see another guy get himself in trouble, hence the reason for my questioning his preparedness and mental state. I figured I could always call the sheriff's department once he was out the door and they could catch him.

After a bit of conversational questioning and general Iron Range nosiness, I found out that he refers to the current recession as the Depression and doesn't believe it is actually merely a recession. I also saw that he had the correct maps and a smartphone. He claimed he had a satellite emergency notification system (like a Spot), a GPS and plenty of food tucked in that pack. He sounded sensible, not overly certain, and quite capable. It was after all that when I found out he was a civil engineer by trade.

: The Painted Canoe of Ely

I mentioned that "my walk across the country" was in that canoe resting upright on sawhorses before him. I explained that with the depression and increased competition for even less discretionary dollars, retail business slowed down in our store so dramatically that starting last June I fell back to my one ability that nobody can take from me. That would be my ability to paint. I pointed to my painted canoe and told him that the silver lining in terrible business is that I was afforded the time and opportunity to do something really different and The Painted Canoe of Ely was born. For just over two months and almost 400 hours of work, I painted this aluminum canoe with the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness -past and present- to the best of my ability to make something unique to Ely that hopefully people would travel to see. It became my obsession, my Sistine Chapel. And while Michelangelo easily runs astronomically large circles around me artistically (it's really close to zero comparison), he never painted a canoe.

I told the hiker that this was the very first thing I ever painted in my life in which my end goal was not to sell it. I've pretty much sold every piece that I ever painted, but this canoe was different for me. I was very happy that I was actually able to do this and am quite content with the outcome.

He walked around the canoe, pausing and bending to examine the detail of the various scenes as they changed along the freeboard. He mentioned the 3D effect that some of the trees had along with the depth of the images. I attributed that particular effect to painting on aluminum. Painting on aluminum offers a visual presentation that stretched canvas won't touch, I explained. I can't quite figure out why, but it just does, and I really like it. He appeared to like it as well.

: The Painted Canoe of Ely

He then asked if he could snap a few photos and wanted me to stand alongside the canoe for one of them. He said that he would never have guessed that walking for hundreds of miles and a chance following of a dirt road would lead him to see something like this work of art out in the woods. He seemed glad that destiny led him down this path and added that he was sure blessed to be walking across the country like this because this life experience was one that he couldn't even imagine prior to actually doing it. I offered that one just doesn't get to find the great things and people he's found/met while traveling in a car. He agreed.

With that, he shook my hand, looked one more time at the canoe and told me that I've "certainly made a lot of lemonade" and continued on his way.

May his journey continue to be safe and worthwhile. It was an interesting mid-day for me.

Visit our Northwind Lodge Website here

Into The Brush - Saving the Future of Wilderness One Stroke at a Time

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Wed, 20 Jan 2016 20:45:00 +0000

Come up and stay with us for an Into The Brush art camp experience. Learn the basics of painting plus become introduced or re-introduced to the joys of wilderness while staying in a nice, housekeeping cabin. I think it's going to be a lot of fun for our new art students! It'll also be an adventure and hopefully something that you'll want to do and share with friends and family for years to come!

Despite what the media says along zealot extremist environmental organizations, wilderness today is quite fine. It's doing well. very little pollution if any is affecting the Boundary Waters Canoe Area wilderness. Wild animals are still running around. In some cases, it's a little TOO fine - meaning no humans are going to it anymore - it is not down to zero use but the number of humans seeking wilderness in northeastern Minnesota is tumbling. Supposedly, there used to be 250,000 visitors per year to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in the mid 90's. In 2013 the actual number is 114,000 participants and in 2014, it dropped to 97,000! That is an alarmingly low number relative to the 250,000 back in the day. We're still waiting for the government to release the 2015 numbers. I expect them to be lower and will post them when I get them.

Don't you find it a shame that interest in the natural world is dwindling only to be replaced by the digital world and all of it's cheap distractions? I know it bugs me and that is why I've started the Into The Brush art camp program. The "interest-in-wilderness-death-spiral" needs to stop.

We are going to save the FUTURE of wilderness, one stroke at a time. Just think about that. You go on an experience, paint some pretty cool stuff, go outside and play and have a really relaxing time at it. You then go home, & hang your cool painting on the wall. Your friends want to know more about how it was that you did that, along with where was that beautiful place, and before you know it, you are telling the whole story about your Into The Brush adventure. When they see that you could do it and had a blast, some of them might begin to turn a blinder eye to their electronic distractions. Maybe they'll want to experience wilderness as well. If everybody and his/her brother enjoys wilderness among the mature adults, what might the immature adults think? Those are the ones who will be making the decisions of the future. It's a lot harder to destroy a place that you like. Observation + paint = fantastic experience.

If we don't get the word out to people who can think rationally today about the threat of "lack of public interest" for tomorrow, we are going to have a real problem. Today's kids aren't going to care one bit if the water is drained from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to grow crops in the Heartland of the US where they are literally running out of water in 2016. That is but only one disastrous possibility that will affect the wilderness of today if we don't get people back into the brush.

The only way to actually save the future of wilderness is start re-introducing people to it. Into The Brush seeks to expose students to bettering their observational skills, while applying basic painting skills using the surrounding wilderness of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for inspiration. It will be unique way to get back into the brush and see what one has been missing for all these years!

Find out more at our Northwind Lodge site: Click Here

Switching Gears - Moving into Art & Deeper into Wilderness

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 02 Jan 2016 16:02:00 +0000

Things have really slowed down in this neck of the woods along with resort life.

The sorry state of the economy nationwide and locally is a big reason. Then there are changing tastes by demographics. All of our old customers have aged even more. Many are changing their patterns and interests accordingly with less distance in travel and/or more service-oriented travel such as cruise-type experiences. Rustic adventures are no longer in their wheelhouses. The 20-30 somethings have pretty much traded in all things wilderness for all things digital. You can tell this is true by noting the big lines around the block every time Apple launches yet another iPhone. The 40-somethings are struggling with the economy, debt, and family.

Who does that leave us in the resort business? Independent, single, 20-something & 50-something women and older.

How do I know this? Women in their 20's and 50's tend have no kids at home. The youngin's may not yet be married with no interest in getting married soon or if ever, and respectively, the 50 YO's tend to be divorced, separated or hopefully at a point in their marriages where they are seeking to independently try something different after being "relegated" in a more custodial life role for so many past years. Their hubbies know how to cook, won't burn down the house when they are gone, and they can actually do something for themselves with spousal blessings. Both groups have some money and can afford doing things. They also want to experience something "interesting and useful" with the time they have left being in reasonably good health. And where are the young males in all of this? Good question. They used to be on canoe trips by the car load. Don't even see them any more in just 5 short years.

Tie all of that together with the fact that I have the need to "switch gears" in my business for survival plus the fact that I, too, like to do different things as well. My bus man's holiday is art and I'm willing to share and want to encourage it.

I know how to paint. I enjoy painting but left it almost entirely for about 33 years. During those paintless years, I attempted to get back into painting but I struggled with my artwork. I was unable to find the mojo to make it go for a broad variety of actual reasons. Well, the same reasons above that have caused our regular business to falter somewhat have opened the door to painting for me and the mojo is back in full force.

Time and priority did it. I have more time available in between customers plus I have a lot of orders for commissioned works. I'm now painting at level much higher than when I was young as far as volume. Also, after 40+ years of teaching people how to do many different skilled activities, I'm confident that I can share my abilities in a productive way with people who are interested in learning and having fun while doing it. Paddle a canoe correctly, ski up a hill, set the hook on a walleye, sweat a copper joint, ride a mountain bike, and now how to paint - they are all very similar in end result and I have taught them to many people.

Another reason I decided to pursue a painting instruction program is in my real concern and alarm for the falling off of wilderness use in general. America is aging. Fishing and hunting license sales are dying in Minnesota. The canoe parking lots in the BWCA are 25% full when only 4 years ago, they were 110% full. With the exception of the Blueberry Arts weekend time slot which used to be just another event in summer (and is now the peak of summer), the parking lots at all the Boundary Waters Entry Points are too big for the numbers of cars there. Something drastic has happened and for inexplicable reasons, a lot of people up here are not noticing it or are simply in denial.

For employment, people moved into metro areas and have left the trappings of rural and wilderness living. After going soft, they are not only turning their backs on wilderness as being too difficult, and too rustic to do, they are forgetting all about it as well. How do I know this? In 2014 an advisory panel of 21 Minneapolis "experts" were hired by a local organization up here to solve Ely's decline. After 3 days of study, they suggested putting a footbridge over Miners Lake in Ely as an "attraction". Most notable of their expert foibles was the installation of "pocket parks with free WIFI" throughout downtown Ely Minnesota. Ely is the gateway to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Canoe Capital of the World and almost surrounded but one million acres of undeveloped wilderness. The expert panel forgot all about the actual real wilderness in Ely MN located 5 minutes from town. Instead they want to give visitors to Ely "a secluded wilderness experience of sorts" while they wander among the "for sale" signs of all the abandoned and closed businesses on the streets. People actually DO come from the metro areas now to walk around in Ely, never venturing outside. It's like a sci-fi movie where the aliens surround the town but never bother anyone who doesn't venture beyond the city limits. If YOU can't figure out how messed up that is, there is no saving you.

Even a complete fool would question pocket parks in a northern Minnesota town surrounded by a massive, real, gorgeous, wilderness canoe-only park with thousands of clean lakes, good fishing, and wildlife. You know we are in trouble with "saving the wilderness" if this is how low city people can go. They are seeking out "fake" wilderness and can't see the forest because of all the trees. Un-friggin'-believable!

The truly sad part is that the expert panel was most likely correct in the pocket-park idea. We now live in a world of internet "pretenders" who want to be in a "safe space wilderness" and feel like they have actually accomplished something by sitting in one and looking at their iPhone. With this attitude and practice will come the decline of wilderness in the future.

And that is why I started Into The Brush. Learn about wilderness and how to put in on canvas for the whole world to see. Painting is one part the skill of the hand and eye, and one part the inspiration of one's soul put to canvas. No stupid pocket parks with free WIFI will bring this about true inspiration compared to REAL wilderness in a nice cabin in the woods with NO concrete side walks and park benches upon which to sit. Somebody's gotta do something in this world gone mad. I can paint, I can paddle, and I can do a whole bunch of other stuff quite well. Do you want to learn how to begin? Click the link and read the program:

Click Here for More

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Fri, 01 Jan 2016 15:38:00 +0000

New for 2016!

PAINT ABOUT IT – INTO THE BRUSH

Have you ever been outside experiencing something spectacular for the day? Say you were out on a hike and witnessed the a 3 o’clock sun setting on a distant tree line of a lake with dark clouds of a thunderstorm brewing behind those trees? Or how about the way the sun lights up a rock? Take a closer look at it sometimes. The most mundane of objects carries the most fascinating details that I would venture 98% of the world simply overlooks. Is it the rock that is fascinating by its mere existence, or the shadow produced by the natural light hitting the rock? And if it’s not that exciting of a rock, what can you still learn from it while it basks silently in the light? Do you really want to come home and talk about it? “I saw a rock today!” Or instead, what if you came home to “paint about it”? A picture is worth a thousand words. How exciting can you make that rock appear?

Now, I realize this somewhat bizarre opening paragraph might indicate that I have a penchant for the healing powers of crystals and donning a saffron robe while smoking weed with my head shaved but for a little tiny braid off the occipital ridge, but none of that is me. I’m pretty ordinary and rather nondescript. Where I differ from a lot of people lies in my interest for observation. I have a friend who once marveled at my observatory interest telling me that I was the most observant person he knew. Now, if he only knew two people, that wasn’t much to go with and since I don’t know how many other people he knows, I’m not going to let it go to my head. The main point is that I naturally tend to notice details. I make it a point to pay attention and look for things that make other things notable. Many, many people do not do this. And, it drives me up a wall. “How could they not see that?” comes to my mind. But, everybody has a set of their own rules that they live by that are not my set of rules, which is a good thing. I have to keep reminding myself of that. So, they don’t pay attention to the things which I observe. And, some of them also get into trouble for it which explains broken bones, fallings, drownings, getting hit by a bus, and other depressing thoughts, but realities of life, nonetheless.

My upbringing was very much based on wilderness observation through being taught to hunt, trap and fish by my dad when I was very young and in those formative years. Spending a lot of time in the woods or even out just outdoors, really helps with one’s focus on details. Given the absolute fact that I have friends (Connie Edwards, et al) who have become excellent artists later in life, plus knowing my own abilities and what it took to get there, I am convinced that everyone is capable of painting about what they saw. I also believe they can do an astonishingly good job of it.

I’ve heard countless people who view my artwork and then feel compelled to tell me that they never could draw and struggled through art class in school. Some of them are convinced that there is “no hope” for them, but I have always maintained that everybody can paint and do so with effect. It’s especially helpful if someone can tell you what you need to do to start. That is half the battle right there. When you were a kid in school, maybe the teacher wasn’t right for you, maybe you were distracted by that good-looking 8th grader at the end of the table. You had focus issues. Who didn’t? We were kids. But, as an adult you already have a set of observational skills of which you are not even aware. Once you figure out how to section apart what you are looking at and then identify the colors and tones as they sit before you, painting becomes a whole lot easier. Still sounds a bit challenging? It is. But it’s also a cerebral fun unlike any other activity that you might enjoy. At least that is what I think, anyway.

Painting is “yoga” without all the stretching and breathing. Now, you should probably do all the stretching and breathing because the extra oxygen to the brain will improve your painting, but my wife is the yoga teacher and I’m going to stick to what I know.

I suspect that painting lowers blood pressure and reduces stress. I suppose there are studies out there, but I prefer to guess. Painting, and the act of focusing on it, offers a great escape for one’s mind. The sky is the limit in what you decide to paint. There are no boundaries, no edges, and no end of the lines for you as long as you hold a brush with some color on it. The only limits in painting are in your imagination. Painting, unlike most team sports and even individual sports and activities, can be done into very old age even with disabilities. Plus, the other absolute beauty in painting is that nobody, and I mean nobody, can take it away from you so long as you can pick up a brush. The other cool thing about painting is that you don’t need a formal education to do it. While having an art degree is helpful perhaps as I’m sure such a degree broadens one’s horizons in all forms of art, to paint on one’s own requires nothing but the will to do it. Pick up a brush and find something to paint on. For the record, I have a degree in business and I took several art classes in college thinking I would learn something of value. Man – did they suck! 30 years later and I’m still talking about how crappy those so-called art classes were in college. I didn’t need them and neither do you.

That being said, getting started is still a bit more daunting to many and for that reason, I decided to put together a northwoods program for newbies to painting from a perspective of experience, observation and application. Mine is a multi-faceted approach to getting you started and stuck deep in the world of painting and fine art.

NOW – don’t get all excited when you look at the scattered wineglasses and mugs that I painted. We are going to start simply and keep it that way. I’m not expecting a Mona Lisa in your first hour and the beauty of art allows you plenty of room to explore, test and most importantly, have fun! Check out the links below for lots more info.

Please Note: When you click on the links below, you will be teleported to our Northwind Lodge main website where you can also see this new art program in it's entirety.

Paint about it – Into the Brush

Into The Brush – How I Started Painting

Into The Brush – I believe you CAN!

Into The Brush – Painting & Wilderness

Into The Brush – Goals

Into The Brush Rates & Dates

Unique Gift - only one of these on the planet

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 10 Oct 2015 14:40:00 +0000

Art business has been picking up at Northwind Lodge!

Ripping a Hook Outta Paul

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 15:07:00 +0000

I guided people for over two decades and we handled fish and hooks - lots of them. In all those years, not a single one of my guests was ever hooked. We had a couple of "close ones" but luckily never had a barb go below the surface of the skin.

That being said, I have now ripped the hooks our of quite a few people in recent years. One time, Pete Edwards came in with a hook buried in his thumb. Pete wanted it removed and wondered if I could help. I proceeded to snip the two points off of the treble hook which were not stuck in Pete using my bicycle spoke cutters. My cutters were back from my bike shop days and I kept all my bike tools - just in case I decide we need to go back into selling bikes. These spoke cutters would snip through 12 gauge, stainless steel spokes with ease and they work really well on hardened fish hooks.

So, the first step is to carefully snip any potentially threatening hooks along with the lure so we only have the remaining hook stuck in Pete's thumb. I know from experience, that a finger/thumb injury hurts all the way up to one's neck, so I carefully removed the points trying to not wiggle the main hook. Pete was understandably wincing.

After I isolated the hook to just the part stuck in his finger, I found some 50 lb. test fishing line and a screwdriver. I put one loop around the base of the hook where it was sticking out of Pete and took the two ends and tied them around the screwdriver handle to fashion a MacGuyver-esque starter cord like you would find on a lawn mower. With the ripcord handle in my left hand and my right hand thumb in position, I told the "braced" Pete, that I would push down on the eye of the hook and rip at the same time to cause the hook to roll out in one swift motion. This maneuver allows the hook to open the skin and give a place for the barb to go that is not catching on skin. It rolls out in a quick flash of pain that ends usually pretty quickly with very minimal damage. It sounds terrible, but it does work.

Pete was going to be the first person I've ever done this to, ever....

I was ready, Pete closed his eyes and braced his aggravated thumb solidly on the counter right next to the cash register. I said, "On three. One, Two, RIP!"

The hook flew out of the thumb and pinged off the ceiling and walls at least three times. Pete roared in agony, "Jesus, Jumpin' Jehosphat! Oh MY GOD tell me it came out because that hurt like HELLL!" to which I quickly replied "Oh sorry, Pete - we're gonna have to try it again. It didn't work!"

Pete groaned like a dying lion at the thought of attempting it again and I quickly added that I was just kidding. It came out just fine. He opened his eyes, smiled and said "Whew!". We both had a laugh and Pete back out fishing.

Well, this is his brother Paul:

I'm really getting my technique down. LOL!

Sometimes I Get a Chance to Go Fishing

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 14:06:00 +0000

I don't like to leave too often during our season because invariably, somebody needs something or something breaks when I'm gone - at least it feels that way. But, I do like to sneak away to Wood Lake every now and then. Here I am with my friend Paul from about 10 days ago.

It was a good day of fishing.

Visit our website for Northwind Lodge

Put down your iPhone and Drive Straight Ahead

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Well, it's been a moderate summer but there is an endless supply of things to keep one really busy at a resort. When something doesn't need a repair, someone has a question, or needs help or is lost. The "lost" ones always fascinate me.

In today's world, so many are completely addicted to their iPhones and the like that they can't do even the simplest task without them. In my opinion, that is a really compromised way to be, but nobody's listening to me as they line up for blocks to buy a new iPhone when their old iPhone (which was new last month) was perfectly good from an operational standpoint. I live in the woods. I can't figure out the obsession/addiction. However, I can see what it does to people's ability to think and navigate and it ain't good.

Since iPhones really made their way into the America psyche, we experience at least 20 lost souls per year who, despite having the ability to read our instructions to find us, toss those to the wind and wing it with their smart phones. This inevitably takes them to Winton MN which is just three miles out of Ely on the way to us and their phone then tells them that they have landed at Red Rock/Northwind Lodge. They usually end up at Brandau Plumbing in Winton or the driveway of Veteran's on the Lake which is a veteran's retreat. Then they call us up (because they still have cell coverage) with mild panic and irritation in their voices. It says right in our website how to literally drive your car pebble by pebble in the road to Northwind Lodge/Red Rock but that holds no meaning for many. Knowing this, I instruct them on the phone how to get to us from Winton, Minnesota.

It goes like this:

Me: Are you ready?

The Lost: Yes

Me: Take your phone and go outside the car.

The Lost: OK

Me: With your left hand, place your phone on the ground, approximately 1 foot in front of the driver's side tire on your car.

The Lost: Errr..OK

Me: Now get in your car and drive ahead one foot. Go get a real paper map.

At this point, there is usually laughter from giggles to guffaws OR the occasional snort of derision on the other end. I then assure them that they are to continue forward on that same road for 12.1 miles and they'll hit our driveway RIGHT across from the Ojibway Lake Public Access. At times, even this doesn't work and they shoot right past ending up at Lake One, the "default" end of the road. They then turn around and find us on the way back.

Many times, they walk in TOTALLY confused as to the fact that our location is wrong in Google or on their Tom-Tom and tell me all about it. I know. I've tried for years to change it and I've just given up. Computers and the internet are not as smart as everyone gives them credit. In fact, your smart phone is dumber than a bag of hammers, so don't rely on it so heavily. We're living proof that it can be completely wrong and very unreliable.

Now, I, too, have been lost in big cities and had to re-trace my steps but that was back in the day when we took notes and looked at a map. Well, actually I still use maps. Being lost is aggravating and unnerving when you end up in a bad neighborhood, so I understand it well. The part I don't understand is that the Fernberg road is a dead-end road that terminates at Lake One which is a Boundary Waters Canoe Area entry point. You can't get lost looking for businesses which are right on this road, right? There is no where else to go, right?

Sigh...

Here's our website's instructions on how to get to find us: Click Here It has worked well this summer with many positive comments. I prefer "blunt".

Bears and Guns

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Fri, 21 Aug 2015 18:41:00 +0000

This morning, one of our guests, prior to his heading out to Wood Lake for a day of fishing, asked me if he should bring along his .45 caliber pistol for bears on the portage. I said, "nah" because I haven't carried any sort of pistol out there since I was a kid.

When I was 14, I started guiding on Wood Lake, and my dad made me carry an old military .45 semi-auto with me in a leather holster. I used to put it in my pack and upon setting up in the boat at Wood, I would take it out and clip the belt around a gunwale stay on the seat. Every time I did that, there would be the sucking of wind and sputtering by my new clients as to the realness of the gun. "Yup - it's real" I would respond. Upon their questioning as to why I would bring such a gun along in my pack, I would always tell them it was for bears on the portage. That response would elicit "Ooooohhhs" of understanding and then the day would progress like any other day of wilderness fishing in northern Minnesota.

As it turns out, the real reason I carried such firepower was not so much for bears as it was for people. Yes, as shocking as it sounds, my dad wanted me to be scarier to the strangers I was guiding. With no way to know who they really are and locked in a confined space like a small boat with a 14-18 year old kid, nothing says, "Easy there big fella" like a .45 strapped to the seat within the immediate grip of the kid guiding the boat. Sounds cynical perhaps, but a healthy dose of cynicism and pistol makes for a consistently peaceful, fun-filled trip all the time. And, again, the other reason for carrying that 5 extra pounds of weight was bears on the portage. Ironically, I had no idea that my dad had a two-fold reason for bringing and displaying that pistol until I was about 40 years old when he told it to me. I always simply thought it was for bears. I don't believe I ever unholstered it even once in all those times I carried it.

Once I got bigger and stronger as is what happens to kids, plus having seen but never been bothered by a bear ever on the portage, I decided to lighten my load a bit and I began leaving the pistol home. Spending as much time as we did in the woods growing up, if bears and wolves were ever going to be a problem, we should no longer be of this earth any more. Don't get me wrong, all of our family members have had some pretty wild times with black bears here around the resort, but under much different circumstances. I respect bears, but I'm not afraid of them. Give them space, let them pass. Don't smear bacon grease on your chest and run around like an idiot and you should do fine. It's simple common sense and it seems to work since I know of nobody with any bite marks or the more obvious signs of being disemboweled by a bear. Being in the resort business, that is a good thing, I figure. I still get the sense that bears would much rather not be interacting with us and that's just fine with me.

I more or less explained this to my guest about going to Wood Lake. He's from out of state in a large urban area, and I've noted people sometimes are a little on the jumpy side while here in the woods. I always felt it was a bit more than required because we really don't have animals that attack people as a rule. There are no grizzlies and the wolves (so far) have attacked very few people world wide. Now that is not to say that these parameters will never change, but they have been the status quo for the last 50 years that I have been hanging out in the woods. Plus, sending countless numbers of people on canoe trips has only resulted in about a half dozen bear attacks of their food packs only and that is from 1976!

So, bears are not really a problem in my opinion. I suggested he leave his gun at home as it was just extra weight. He hesitantly agreed and quoted "safe than sorry" and I suggested he'd be fine without it.

He drove off to Wood Lake. In 10 minutes I saw his car coming back down the driveway. Did I forget the boat key?...the oars?...nope. He came into the store and said when they got within 150 feet of the Wood Lake parking lot driveway and he was signaling to turn, a large bear crossed the Fernberg road going north right in front of his car and headed right down the Wood Lake portage.

He decided to come back and get his gun. I hope he doesn't shoot his foot off or his wife in that panicky, jacked-up, shaky hands adrenaline rush that one gets when being charged by a large bear.

My money is on him never again seeing that bear. I'll know more tonight.

Free Advice for what it is worth: Unless you have extensive training and experience in shooting charging bears/animals with a pistol, I STILL say, leave the pistol home. Shooting targets at the range and shooting a charging bear are not even closely related. Plus, if you shoot a bear that is not on top of you trying to end you, you may find yourself in a world of hurt legally in Minnesota. I just think its a problem waiting to happen. I don't carry a pistol and have spent a lot of time in the woods. It's never been a problem.

Come get the crap scared out of you by bears at Northwind Lodge (kidding) Click Here

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 14:45:00 +0000

Nothing says "fun at the beach" like a polka in northern Minnesota. This is my dad playing the song that I remember most as a child growing up, the Tick Tock Polka. I was always fascinated at how loud his accordion was back then, and like comfort food, that particular polka is very meaningful to me.

My Dad learned how to play while still a 12 year old kid and I remember the story of how when he was in the army in Korea, some of the brass found out that he could play and they miraculously dug up an accordion for him.

In this video of 2015 he's now 83 years old. So, for as long as Northwind Lodge (Jasper Lake Resort) has formally been a resort in Lake County, my dad has been playing his accordion.

That's a lot of history at this Minnesota resort.

Visit our website HERE

Painting Dogs in Northern Minnesota

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sun, 05 Jul 2015 16:26:00 +0000

July 5th and another laid back day at Northwind Lodge. Looks like I'm heading backing to my former life of painting. I kind of missed it, actually. It's nice to be back in familiar waters once again.

Spectacular weather, beautiful days. good fishing and a little bit of paint. How come you aren't here?

Click Here to see the finished painting of Delilah & Cookie

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Chair #2 for Incredible Ely is finished - Fire!

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Mon, 29 Jun 2015 23:13:00 +0000

Chair #2 for the Charish Fundraiser Auction by Incredible Ely is done. In some ways it was easier and harder than Chair #1 the moose, but I was happy with the end result. I've noticed that people react differently to different scenes (well, duh) - what I mean is that it is interesting to watch them. People focused on the eyes of an animal and stay there. They look at the other parts, too, but the eyes are the center of concentration.

Scenery with different aspects in the picture, require more time to study it (duh, again), but they focus on the fire and then move around the scene for several long seconds. The surprise for me was noting that even a painted campfire draws in humans, particularly those who like the outdoors. A campfire is like a magnet whether real or depicted.

I think that attraction goes back millennia as the fire is where the warmth, food and light were and remain today. It's in grained into the instincts of humans. When in trouble or having fun, a fire is a source of comfort and protection. Hence the reason for the long observances by several people in the store here while I was painting.

Come Stay with Us at Northwind Lodge- Check out the cabin rentals specials HERE!

Painting Chairs for Incredible Ely

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 21:50:00 +0000

It was a really slow Sunday at Northwind Lodge today, so with a never ending list of things to do, I got caught up on an Adirondack chair painting that I was doing for Chairish, Incredible Ely's fundraiser. I shot some video while I was working on it. I still have a ways to go, but it's starting to turn out, OK. These are pretty nice chairs built out of cedar buy the shop class at the Ely Highschool. Rob Simonich is the teacher and he's doing a pretty good job with these kids who build all of these chairs.

Come Stay with Us At Northwind Lodge - Click Here for our Lodge Website

A Landing Net's Life

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 18:51:00 +0000

My dad turned 83 years old yesterday and just to make the younger world feel diminished, I dragged him all the way down the Wood Lake portage and forced him to catch fish on Wood Lake for the day. The portage is 210 rods long or .58 miles long and it was muddy and rugged after yesterday’s heavy rains which is par for the course on portages. For an old guy with a fake knee and a double bypass some 15 years ago, he does pretty well. Of course, I brought along my sidekick Delilah.

Once we hit the trail, she began her Wood Lake portage routine of blasting ahead at full speed, turning off the trail into the woods and running parallel back along the trail only to come out behind me. From that point, she snorts past me again, tongue flopping and nothing but a blurry streak of fur to do it repeatedly for the entire trail. I figure that she runs about three times the length of the trail every time we walk it. In the back of my mind, I’m waiting for the moment she drives out a momma bear and cubs to meet me, but that hasn’t occurred….yet.

As I walked the trail carrying my oars, our rods and my pack, I noted the fresh tracks in the mud – two people ahead of me. As a boy, I was trained to not leave tracks – not in the figurative sense connected to symbolically saving the BWCA, but instead, for real. Hunting and trapping as a kid, we never wanted to be followed and the best way to avoid followers is to never leave tracks as best we could and we still do this to this day. As a result, I observe this telltale “flaw” in others all the time and today’s tracks in front of me were no different. I could tell both were men, in their late 30’s to early 40’s, weighing about 185 lbs. each. They wore big floppy hats, mosquito head nets, blue, white and black, paddling gloves, and brand new long sleeve, nylon button-down shirts with brand new nylon, zip off pants.

As Delilah blasted silently down the portage, about 150 feet in front of me, up a hill and around a curve, I heard her let loose with the most ferocious, attack-dog bark her nine pound body could muster! First I thought ” bear” but that was immediately corrected. There was a scream and panic as a voice-in-terror yelled, “Gggaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh! GET OUTTA HERE! GO AWAY!!!! ” as Delilah stopped them in their tracks. I tried to call her off, but she was unrelenting, so I picked up my pace to see two guys decked out in nylon shirts, zip-off pants, trail boots, blue-white-black paddling gloves, big hats and bug nets. Delilah finally shut up as her job was done attacking the space aliens. I chuckled and said when they passed, “I bet that scared the crap out of you!” to which one replied “Maybe a little…” Delilah looked back at me all proud and alert for taking down the “aliens” with a good, solid whoopin’. Then, she blasted down the portage once again.

When we hit the water, we endured a beautiful day with moderate catching but enough to keep up busy all day long. In a pretty true test, we found that live bait and artificial lures ended up producing about “neck and neck” . There was no real, obvious gain in using live bait over lures. Later in the day, the wind picked up and screamed from the west making for about 1.5 hours of tough rowing with a significant chop and some whitecaps. I put together this video called “A Landing Net’s Life” since the I had the camera stuck to the net.

Upon returning to the parking because not much wears Delilah out, she took off and chased a 70 foot long semi roaring past on the Fernberg Road. The present road crew tried to catch her but she blew past them, returning to me and prompting a parking lot visit by a concerned, but laughing foreman looking for “a little brown dog that was chasing one of their semi’s down the new asphalt.” Delilah stood up on the truck seat and smiled at him.

Good dog, Delilah. Never give up.

Come stay at Northwind Lodge this summer! Click here

A New Ceiling for Rental Cabin #3

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Mon, 25 May 2015 13:34:00 +0000

Last fall, we needed to put a new roof on Cabin #3. That cabin was there since the 40's and as a kid, my brother Bernie and I put at least two new roofs on it years ago after our dad had done the same prior to that. It finally developed a leak and I patched it but the whole roof was shot. I decided to insulate it and put a layer of osb sheeting over the top. Curt and I did that last fall.

I discovered that there were five layers of rolled roofing on that cabin! The roof itself was simply made out of ship lap pine and that also made the inside of the ceiling which had turned that really dark brown like old, varnished pine usually does. While walking around on the roof on 66 year old boards we were careful to make our feet bridge two boards while walking to prevent cracking or even going through an individual plank. I'm always amazed that lumber from 66 years ago still even has structural integrity. The boards were still springy and after a ton of running around, not one even cracked a little. I don't think any type of plastic would have held up the same.

I installed a simple framework, laid down the foam insulation, nailed down half inch sheeting and roof edging that I had to build for this job and put the felt layer on along with the shingles.

Upon inspection of the inside, I could see where some of the nails we shot down in the framing became an issue and I decided to put in a new ceiling in the spring. Well, spring sprang and in between rain, snow and bad weather, I videoed a condensed version of that particular job along with the end result. It turned out OK.

While I was sitting in Cabin 3 tuning my radio I happened to look outside the window at the spectacular view of blue water on Jasper with a backdrop of wilderness while an eagle soared overhead and one of our loons protested in the distance. I said to myself, "yeah, I could live here for a week or two!"

It's a pretty cool place.

Bring your wife or hubby! Come stay in Cabin #3 at Northwind Lodge! Click Here for our website.

Sucker Spawning in Jasper Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Thu, 21 May 2015 13:12:00 +0000

It was Sucker Fest at Northwind Lodge on May 5th and for about two days. I was working in Cabin 3 when I went down to Jasper Creek to to see if the suckers had come up the creek in the morning. None were present. A bit later in the day, they decided this day to be their day.

The water was low in the creek to begin with so the suckers were pretty shallow. Suckers like hot weather if they can get it in the spring in northern Minnesota, and they will usually pile up in the creek. There were some bunches of males and females - males have a subtle to not-so-subtle stripe on their sides and tend to be a bit smaller. Sometimes, it is hard to tell just by looking at them.

I went down to the creek with my sidekick, Delilah leading the way and the video sums it all up.

The next day, the temps dropped into the 40's and then freezing and the suckers completely disappeared from the creek. Then, somebody pulled the beaver dam out of Jasper Creek up at the culvert of the highway and the water became very high. a major temperature drop combined with fierce rapids pretty much shut down the sucker spawn for 2015. What you see in the video was the spawn for the season. This is a good thing as we'd like to see sucker numbers drop as a lake will only support so many pounds of fish and every sucker removed opens up a space for another game fish.

Delilah had fun while it lasted.

Visit our website, Northwind Lodge

Cabin Availability as of May 15 - Call for Up-to-Date Availability

Felling a Big Spruce

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sat, 02 May 2015 19:33:00 +0000

At least this time, I didn't have to do the felling. A two-man crew with a big fancy boom truck came in a took down a hefty spruce that died due to lighting and was right next to the power line. They were on contract for our electrical co-op here and their efforts were much appreciated. My chainsaw bar isn't big enough for the job and theirs was also even a bit on the short side. It was a shame to have to take down a tree of that size, but either we do it now while in control, or have it fall later while out of control. It was easily in the range of the power lines and with 7,000 volts running through it, touching the lines is less than desirable. The tree had to come down.

I haven't yet decided what I'm doing with it but I'll be doing something.

Check out resort website HERE

Last Minute Internet Specials for cabin rentals at Northwind Lodge

And the Loons are Calling...

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Wed, 22 Apr 2015 14:45:00 +0000

I went outside this morning at 8 AM and I could hear the loons calling in the distance as a cold, north wind was bashing its way through the woods 20 feet outside our door. I let Delilah out ahead of me as I do every morning when walking to the office and she was in 3 inches of drifted snow! It's April 22, 2015 and while this is hardly unusual for northeastern Minnesota, I still find it difficult to write poetically about wind blowing snow sideways less than a month away from fishing opener. I'm also having a hard time with those computer models that show that we should be watching palm trees grow since this, with the exception of about four years ago, seems to happen every year for as long as I can remember. Hence the reason we still haven't take the plow off of the truck.

Still ready to go.

The beach on Jasper Lake

Great Day for a Water Bike Ride!

Looking east down the beach

Cabin 7

Cabin 3

Cabin 6

Straight north off the beach

Meanwhile, the loons, who spend their winters in Florida, are back wondering why they came home so early. C'mon, warm weather! We all want winter to leave!

Book a warmer summer vacation with us! Click Here for our website

Methane in the Ice - It's always been there, pumping out of the Earth

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Sun, 29 Mar 2015 23:18:00 +0000

Well, here's a shock and something you NEVER, EVER hear being addressed by all the climate change experts. CO2 is bad for the earth -well, except for all the plants that need abundant CO2 to live - but that doesn't count. Then, when CO2 loses its shock value, we talk seriously about methane. Millions of dollars in federal grants have been spent on studies of bovine flatulence - cow farts. Apparently, the beef industry, (you know, those people who supply those little round patties at McDonalds) has been killing Earth with bovine flatulence and something needs to be done, apparently. At least another million dollar study needs to play out for a good determination of all that ails this greatly suffering rock.

Bearing the weight of mankind in mind, Delilah was bugging me to go outside for a run. That little dog likes to burn up the ground, and she's been know to produce the occasional methane burst herself now and then, but that's for a different study.

Anyway, I hopped on the Skidoo and took the little dog out to where my dad and I were fishing earlier that day. We wandered around out there enjoying the peace and tranquility of Minnesota's great northwoods and I remembered to point out the methane bubbles in the ice. For the last few years, Jasper Lakes has been belching up methane a LOT. I'm sure that Jasper is not alone in doing so, but it's where I am all the time so I observe these things in this lake.

Funny part is that the water is about 1 foot low this winter. This past fall we had more beach than I'd seen all summer with the water being low so pulling the docks out was a bit easier. Out where we ice fish in the weed beds, over the years, it has been 7 to 8 feet deep only. Last summer, the weeds were SO thick, you could barely fish. It also looked like silt is filling in the lake. Top it all off with a few really big methane "burps" and I have a theory.

Jasper Lake is maintained mainly by spring activity. It also has a ton of silt that none of our neighboring lakes have, and that includes even Ojibway which sends water to Jasper via Jasper Creek. In 1976, that creek dried up for 1.5 years and Jasper dropped 4 feet low and stayed there with water going out still. There is only one way that is possible. Springs.

Bearing that in mind, these springs are geological events. Parameters and conditions deep in the ground can change due solely to the actions of Mother Nature. The planet does what it wants and that's it. We can wring our hands and raise taxes and implement ridiculous feel-good mandates all we want, but we have zero effect on whatever the planet decides to do next despite what the believers conclude by consensus. Jasper Lake has been filling up with sediment. The only incoming water comes from a spring-fed lake (Ojibway) with no sediment. So, where is the sediment coming from? Well it has to be coming from those springs that maintain the lake for real. Something changed below, and those springs are dumping minerals and sediment into the lake from far away

That is the first part of my theory. The second part lies in the fact that methane can be made from serpentinization of rock in the presence of water. The right rocks rub each other at ungodly pressures below with some water mixed in and we get methane building up. (You can look it up-it happens all the time) Plus, weeds, fish and bacteria rot on the bottom to form methane as well, but the serpentization method makes more sense regarding the massive volume needed to affect this lake. It happens everywhere around the planet and methane silently releases after the pressure builds up, all the time. Al Gore seems to leave that part and so do all the other enforcers of climate change belief.

The second part of my theory ties it all together in Jasper Lake. Where we fish, it has been about 7-8 feet deep historically for the last several years. This year, it was 10 feet deep. Deeper than we've seen it since I was a kid. We've also had more methane bubbles frozen in the ice than I have ever seen. This could also explain why I fell through the ice last winter when all the other ice was good. We fish in that same area all the time where methane can be observed bubbling up in significant volume with an underwater camera. It flows up out of the silt and is very visible on camera.

My theory is that we had, deep under silt, maybe hundreds of feet down, a large methane bubble building for years coming out of those springs that maintain the lake. The bubble or concentration built up pressure and lifted the silt up, thereby lowering the water level by default. Lifting up of the bottom of the lake, allowed the weeds to grow thicker than ever because they were closer to the sun than ever before. Once that huge bubble got close enough to the surface of the silt layer, it began to bubble up in the water and some of it got trapped in the ice allowing me to formulate this theory. When enough bubbled out in a lake (that was 1 foot low to begin with), the silt settled back down, and my dad and I are now fishing bluegills in 10 feet of water instead of 7 feet in a lake that is low in the first place.

So, a large methane bubble formed deep enough to be trapped by the silt that becomes denser as you go deeper due to pressure and gravity packing the silt into a fairly impervious carpet - to a point. The gas bubble lifted the entire bottom of the lake up, the weeds grew like crazy because they were closer to the sun. Then, the gas released when it overrode the density of the silt, and the bottom has now gone back down closer to pre-bubble years.

Meanwhile, Mother Earth has just released perhaps millions of tons of methane into the air and no cows were present. Maybe I could get my Congressman to give me a million dollar grant to study this theory about naturally occurring phenomenon with the "evil" methane being released.

Here's some video:

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Born to Run

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Thu, 26 Mar 2015 13:53:00 +0000

Delilah, the resort dog of Northwind Lodge (well, and Cookie, too, but Cookie is a bit boring) lieks to run against the Skidoo. You can just see the bird-dog look she gets when I start the machine. She takes off for home every time. Fun dog.

Northwind Lodge Website

Bluegills and U-boats in Jasper Lake

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:56:00 +0000

Using what whatever snow is left in the yard to get the Skidoo to the water, I drove out on the ice on Jasper Lake on March 16 at 1:30 PM to set up a pup-up shelter for fishing. It was warm out at about 40 degrees but like every other March, it was windy. Blowing from the south, then the north, we ended up tying the 6 x 8 pop-up off from each end to my Skidoo and my dad's 4-wheeler. We were 100 yards off the beach of Northwind Lodge.

We made use of pre-drilled holes from the day before when we went fishing with Dave Oliver and Paul Haraldson, so setting up was quick. We got inside the tent along with Delilah and began paying homage to the gods of bluegills by staring down the hole. Boy, talk about getting a sore upper back and neck after doing that for 4 hours straight.

We dropped down various jigs a sparkly little spinners and they began to come in. There were fewer today, but they were running bigger. Nice sized, fillet-able fish swimming 5 to 7 feet below. Today's visibility was not as good as yesterday and we can never understand why.

Conditions were about the same with a partly cloudy day, but nonetheless, the sunnies below were bigger and a bit more picky. All of a sudden, a 5 lb northern pick glided across in the shallow depths below. The sunnies blew the popstand at that point and then some really nice sized largemouth bass came in for a look. Even though the sunnies are good sized, those bass come in and they are huge. 2.5 to 4 pounders stopping in to see if they want that tiny #14 tungsten jig with a little bit of plastic on the hook. It gets your adrenalin flowing because these are really nice fish. But nope, they swam by. After all that fish activity going by, it takes the bluegills about 30 minutes to come back after the head bluegill declares the coast to be clear.

I have 5 rods on the ice floor of our living room on the lake. Each is rigged with a different jig & different plastics. Most of the stuff I use is tungsten. When the school is passing through, one must keep their interest for them to stick around. So, if they are slow moving to one lure, crank up fast and drop another. Must have been the air-pressure, but they were only moderately interested in what we were offering. There was my dad setting the hook and saying "aarrggh!" and and me doing the same while declaring "dang it!". The fish below would suck in a jig completely. To hook them requires an immediate hookset. You're like a coiled spring with a trip wire. Trouble is that inexplicably, you can set the hook and miss them time and again despite their having inhaled the entire jig. We call it "flipping them" when we set a hook and it pulls them up and they flip a sideways somersault and swim away dazed but unharmed. To avoid frequent flipping, we tried letting them take it for one second and they spit it out in slightly less than one second. Their little bluegill tongues must quickly identify plastic. We finally moved to tungsten bead head flies made by Cortland with no plastic and caught a few, flipped a few more.

Then, in a blast of sunfish panic, those slow-moving fish dispersed in all directions like spokes on a bicycle wheel. Big northern coming through like a German U-boat on the hunt. The bluegills beneath his level could hear the "ping" as the big green U-boat glided methodically overhead. To hide, they descended deeper & deeper, closer to the bottom, holding their breath, beads of sweat rolling off their gill covers. Minutes changed to hours as that big predator swam between them and the two faces staring down the holes in the ice above watching and waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Dang northern scared everybody off. We sat for another 30 minutes with 5 bluegills on the ice and nobody was returning back to that spot. My dad and I finally gave up. We knocked down the tent, loaded the sled and cranked up our machines and headed home. Had we caught every fish we saw including some very large perch, we'd have had fish laying all over the ice. There certainly is no shortage of fish in Jasper. Keeping them on the hook is the tricky part.

Adventures in the Big City - Shakopee, MN - Alehandro is a Dead Man

noreply@blogger.com (Joe Baltich) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 03:43:00 +0000

It was the end of the day at the sportshow, Fish Fest Minnesota at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minnesota. I got in the car and navigated the mile or so to my hotel. It was going to be a late check-in and I'd called ahead. The woman at the counter was young, pleasant and bubbly despite it being 8:30 at night. I dropped my stuff off in my room and headed outside to find some place to eat. Conveniently, there was a strip mall across the busy street and I spied the Dragon Cafe and some pasta place. More adventure in Chinese food I figured, so Chinese it was.

I walked in to the relatively empty cafe and was greeted (if you can call it that) by a short, wide Chinese (I would guess) waiter in blue jeans and an ill-fitting yellow polo shirt. He asks me "One?" and I nod at the obvious, and he said, "Follow me!" in a thick accent. We walked about ten feet total and he pointed to a booth and queried "OK!" and I answered "Sure!" not that I really had a choice. I sat down and he abruptly slapped down the plastic coated menu and I sensed some urgency in the air. I began to speed-read through the two million choices because I just knew he was returning with a red plastic tumbler with ice water. Sure enough; he was back. He set down my tumbler and said, "You ready, orhda?" I could feel beads of sweat building up on the back of my neck as the fireplug stood at the booth table edge, his rough cheeks and fuzzy, short black hair pointing at me, demanding an answer. "Errrr - I'll take #12", I told him quickly. "Soupohsahda?", he asked very fast. I had to ask him to repeat it three times in which he never, ever altered or changed his presentation. It was "soup" or "salad" and I opted for the chicken soup. "Anyting to drink?", he added. "No, water is fine", I answered quickly. "OK!" and he disappeared in the kitchen from where tinking noises were emanating.

As I waited, I noticed a Chinese young woman eating soup or something on a round table next to the cash register. She was eating so slowly and looking down, I figured she was reading something good. Upon observation - nope, nothing in front of her but her food in some large bowl. Meanwhile, the fireplug brought out my "soupohsahda" and it was water, with snow white strips of chicken, and handful of chopped chives, white rice and salt. Didn't really put a lot of effort into it, but it tasted OK, I guess. The fireplug also gave me a plastic replica of one of the those ornate and highly-irritating-to-use, ceramic spoons. It was like a mini bowl with a handle and hard to use at best. Right behind the soup event came the #12. It was 4 big puffy balls of breading with a slightly dried-up shrimp hiding in the middle of each. They laid on top of flied lice and next to a pile of chowmein that buried yet another pile consisting of chowmein noodohs.

While digging through my no-calorie-no-salt Chinese meal, I developed a thirst and was blasting through the ice water. The fireplug was back with a pitcher of water in his meaty hands, twice. I looked over my shoulder and noticed that he was standing, arms crossed, watching over the patrons like a prison guard with an ax to grind. He was efficient, I'll give him that.

When I was done enjoying my Chinese-adventure-on-a-plate, he was right at the table with the bill and requisite fortune cookie. He asked, "Ow done?" and I affirmed. "Tank you." and he set down the cookie and bill and disappeared through the kitchen doors. He was gruff and to the point, but he did his job well. I left a tip.

I got up to pay and there was party of two before me, paying their bill to the woman who had been concentrating on her bowl of food. She stood and rang them up and thanked them pleasantly while I stood two feet behind them and was taller than both by a head. One could not miss my presence if one tried. As the couple stepped out, I stepped up and the woman looked right through me and went back to her seat to continue slowly eating her bowl of food on the round table next to the register. I had become a ghost.

I stood there in silence feeling a bit stupid wondering how fast these Chinese could run if I bolted out the door to my immediate right, but then, another Chinese woman appeared and in absolutely perfect English, said she would take care of my payment. No sooner than I gave her the cash, she started in on the woman eating at the round table. "Odoh, sukinitchy hoooooooyyyy dohwooooh!" she said while she completely ignored my departure. Sheesh. Out into the winter air I went and decided that I needed a can of pop and a candy bar for dessert.

I saw a gas station on a corner and headed towards it. There was a yellow taco truck parked outside with a bright "open" sign at the door. Steam was rising from its vents while it sat there with greased up windows closed. I wasn't sure how one ordered since it was winter and they wouldn't be sitting with the windows open. I walked past it and into the convenience store.

I took a right to see a large display of incense sticks and things that I normally have not seen in a convenience store. One was the large, very visible display of adult magazines with covered up front pages. And, right next to them, was something that I've never seen before: the equivalent to Mexican Twinkies, Ho-Ho's, Ding Dongs and other assorted artery clogging delights. There was one that was called Creme on Toast, and from the package, it appeared to be a toast sandwich with layer of creme where PB&J would normally exist. It was intriguing to say the least, but visions of ground up cockroaches in the creme left me looking but not consuming.

Well, this store piqued my interest. I began to wander around and noted both the "un" and "usual" snacks in the store. Having just left my Chinese adventure, I was now in Mexico but couldn't make up my mind as to what I wanted for dessert. I knew I wanted a pop so I found my flavor of choice and pulled it out of the fridge. Then I heard the yelling from the check out counter of the store.

I was the only customer in the place and there was a short bald guy with a mustache wearing a huge blue and white basketball (?) jersey behind the counter. He was surrounded by a sea of E-cigs, paraphernalia, and tobacco products. From the back of the store, despite the loudly whirring coolers, I heard him yelling on the phone, "Alehandro! I gonna _ _ _ _ YOU! ALEHANDRO! I GONNA _ _ _ _ YOU! WHY ALEHANDRO? WHY?!!! BECAUSE YOU'RE MEAN, ALEHANDRO - AND A LIAR!!! YOU JUST COME HERE RIGHT NOW ALEHANDRO AND I'LL TAKE CARE OF YOU!!!!"

Holy crap (!) I thought to myself! I just wanted a pop and a candy bar to conclude my earlier Chinese adventure. Now, Alehandro is most likely on his way to crash through the store windows his low-rider car with its ridiculously thin tires and over-the-top hubcaps. Then he was most likely going to shoot the place up with a stolen Tec-9. I'd be there looking for cover behind the Mexican Ho-Ho display. Screw the candy bar, I concluded. I took my Diet Coke and headed to the counter to the crazy fool who was fully planning on doing something very obscene to Alehandro. I set the can on the counter and the bald Mexican looked me in the eye and said, "Did you find every thing you needed, sir?" I nodded, "Make that just a dollar-even for the soda."

I handed him a dollar and then noticed another politely smiling mustachioed Mexican sitting on a chair in the cigarette sea behind the counter. He had hair. The bald check-out guy politely thanked me with a very professional tone and added "You have a good evening, now."

I walked out listening for the sounds of distant squealing, smoking tires of Alehandro's roaring low-rider to tear through the streets of Shakopee, Minnesota aiming at a Mexican convenience store in the dark of night. None came. Heck, had I been Alehandro, I would have skipped going there as well, at least for tonight.

Back to my room I headed and locked myself inside. Tomorrow night would be different.

The next evening, I decided to change up my dining adventures as last night was rather involved. I decided to go to Cub Foods and buy some turkey and Swiss cheese and the other components for a delightful evening in my room - alone. I just didn't feel like putting up with the trappings of dining out.

So, I proceeded into this massive store and bumbled around with everyone asking if I would like to order from every counter before I even got a chance to look at what was there. (Can I help you? Can I help you? Are you ready to order?) I decided to observe the contents of the deli counters from afar lest I be bugged by every employee in the store with a white mesh cap. I should have brought binoculars. I finally find something suitable, place my order and pick up a box of Little Debbie's Swiss Cake Rolls to complement the Swiss cheese in my sandwich-soon-to-be.

I proceeded to a check-out where there was only one guy in front of me. After numerous attempts to swipe his card, the cashier leaned over and started swiping and pushing buttons as well. This went on for about 6 minutes. I just stood there watching until the card finally went through. The cashier said, "There was $1.47 remaining on that gift card", and the guy nodded. I secretly rolled my eyes. Then, gift-card guy turned to me after he noticed my Swiss Cake Rolls. He then proceeded to tell me about how, as a child, his uncle bet him that he couldn't eat a whole box of Swiss Cake Rolls. I looked around wishing that I'd gone to a restaurant or at least back to the Mexican gas station. Thinking that I was fully engaged in his wonderful story, he laughingly concluded that as a result of the "bet" he ended up eating two (2) of the Little Debbies and promptly threw them all up. "There was barf everywhere!" It was clearly a highlight of his growing up in the big city. I was just hoping he wasn't planning to follow me to my hotel room to share more gripping tales of his childhood.

I finally made it back to the confines of my room and securely locked the door. I made it through my sandwich and two (2) Little Debbies and everything stayed down with no problems. I should have made a bet with someone. Heck, I should have bought a lottery ticket after that.

On the final part of my return home, I stopped at an Arby's in Cloquet, MN which had four total patrons sitting down. I approached the counter with an 80 pound girl who was as cute as a bug with pouty little lips and a round face that reminded of "I tat I taw a puddy tat" Tweety. She was young with dark, shorter hair and the shining example of someone who would have a vibrant personality and intelligent charm all mixed together with downright interesting good looks. And then she opened her mouth.

Instead of saying the usual "Hi, can I help you?" upon my approaching the counter, she snarled, "For here or to go?". That was it. That was the greeting from Tweety at Arby's. I ordered the fish sandwich and she snarled, "That'll be $5.37." with the personality of whale snot. Another smiling, friendly girl from the back brought out the sandwich instantly to Tweety, who snorted and dropped it on the tray along with the fries. I took it away from the counter with the angry bird behind it, found a spot in among the 75 open spots in the dining section, ate my run-of-the-mill fish sandwich with greasy curly fries and left. As I was throwing away my beverage cup, I couldn't help but notice on the side of it was a big blahbitty-blah about how Arby's wants my dining experience to be "more than awesome". I'm going with "underwhelming", actually. Tweety must have been having a bad day.

From there, I went to another gas station to top off my tank right next to Arby's and thought about getting a pop and a candy bar for dessert. There were no swearing Mexicans so I felt somewhat vacant. Plus, there was a Walgreens next door, so I went there instead. Wouldn't you know it - there were Valentines chocolates on sale for 50% off! I picked one up along with a few other items and went to the check out. When I got there, the 17 year old boy was having an issue with the scanner and the register so an older lady came out and was pushing buttons. They moved me to a different till and I set down my stuff. He scanned it all in and I paid the $9.57. I left with my sweet deal in hand and about 9 miles down the road, I'd realized that I never got the 50% discount on the candy. SONUVA!!!!

The cities (everything south of Duluth in my book) are an odd place. It was nice to come home to the woods. Everybody was happy to see me & nobody was shooting up any convenience stores with angry Mexicans inside.

As of this writing, we are now out of Little Debbies, too.

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