2009 Black Island Newsletter

The start of the 2009 season was reminiscent of 2008. The ice went out late and everything just seemed to be running late. The leaves on the trees were not completely out until the middle of June! We had our usual guys for our first guests of the season. Milt Tostrud, from Rochester, MN usually comes for the Walleye opening weekend and Vic Chiaminto, from Kansas City, usually comes Memorial Day. Both came June 1st this year, which was a good thing. The weather prior to that was cold and very wet. That first week was still cool but the fishing was fine. Thanks to Vic for the great bread and the Italian deli treats. Speaking of treats, thanks to the Bloomington, IL guys, Dave and Terry, for the super sweet onions and the chocolates. Yes, we can be bought….

It stayed wet into the second week of June. Steve Trotter, with the Bobby Schean followers from Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky, had to file a complaint about Barb’s cookies. He claimed they were too big to eat before they got soggy in the rain so he had to hold them under the brim of his hat. Where there is a will there is a way. Jon Williams had no problem with the cookies. He ate every one he could lay his hands on. Talk about a sweet tooth! Bobby had an eventful drive up from Alabama in his brand new truck. First he ran over a satellite dish that fell out of the truck in front of him. Then a deer ran into him. Then the bearings in his boat trailer went out (they were supposedly just redone…). Things do happen in threes. Good thing the fishing was great, as usual!

Gail Hoffman did her magic and brought summer with her from Indiana. The rain stopped, the sun came out and it got warm! She likes to putter in the garden so we let her have at it. The gardens were just beautiful! All that sunshine brought out the fish, too. Everything started biting. The Ott boys, from our hometown area of Dubuque, IA did some serious fishing and some serious bonding, packing seven of them into Northstar!

The great weather continued on. On June 15^th the down blanket came off the bed and the shorts came out of the drawer! The Muskies were wild, going after anything that moved. Sean Egan, from Chadds Ford, PA got a 46 on a crankbait with no leader on 8 lb test. Jim said we had to put Sean’s picture in the newsletter to make up for that picture of him in last year’s newsletter with the baby Walleye. The Hellers, from St. James, MN also caught Muskies while fishing for everything else. Matt got a nice 44, Nolan got a 41 and a 39 and a baby (maybe 24). But, Chelsea was the fishing queen. She got big Bass, big Walleye, and big Northern. The guys couldn’t keep up with her. We girls are not to be outdone!

Billy Fleming, from Columbia, TN and his brother George from Ft. Lauderdale, came a little later this year with Bill & Miller. Their timing was great for Smallmouth since the spring was so late. These are the guys who will do most anything to avoid catching a Northern or a Muskie, and of course, always do. They just don’t like that slime and those teeth. This year Billy was able to get his lure away from “the biggest fish he has ever seen on this lake” and he has fished here for a lot of years. He swears he saw a Muskie that was “at least 6 feet”!

Speaking of Muskies, Dirk Seymour, of Loves Park, IL finally got a Muskie bigger than his son, David. Dirk & David are the winners of the “lightest packers” award. They were here for 5 days and didn’t even fill one cart! On the other hand, we have Flen Thorpe and the guys from St. Louis, MO who, thanks to George Penton, bring the whole state of Missouri with them. It’s a close contest for the most stuff award. Flen’s guys or Blair Heller’s bunch…

The week of the July full moon was a quiet week for us - except for the non-stop story telling and laughing. A week with the Hoffmans and Kratzers (Omro, WI) is a real workout for your funny bone. And to top it off, Gail caught a really fat, giant headed, 29 inch Walleye! Mike put the fear of the Lord in Phyllis when he caught a 50 inch Muskie. Phyllis said it was the biggest fish she’s ever seen up close and personal!

We’re not sure if it’s Brian Schutz and his gang from Rio, WI or just fate, but remember last summer when the wind was so bad that we had to delay their arrival? It almost happened again. We had a big wind all day Saturday, but it just laid down to nice and calm right before they got to Pier North. Whew! Had us worried. They did manage to generate some lousy weather – 58 degrees for a high in the middle of July! But they caught fish and that’s all that counts. Well, there was the one that got away form Brian that first day – had a really nice Northern in the net, then through the net and gone. Oops…

Richard Forsyth and his bunch from Ohio braved the cold, wind and rain to fish for Smallmouth, Muskies and Northern. They went out in any kind of weather and caught some nice fish. Richard went so far as to catch the same 40 inch Muskie twice. The third week of July was Muskie week. Everyone was after them. Well, Pat & Pat Duignan from Chicago did go after a few Walleye… It was also “groom to be” week. Jason Koch, Lucas Leaon, Jon Skroch & our neighbor, Joe Adams all getting married this year. Congrats to all! Weddings aside, the Roedigers “kicked ass” for numbers and size of Muskies. John and Lucy both caught their personal best: John a 52.5” and Lucy a 48”. Way to go!

Jon Skroch

Jason Koch

Lucas Leaon

Jeremy Romain from Kansas City was back with some friends and his Dad, Mark. They were here to fish but the conversation ended up with hunting as the main topic.

These guys love hunting, especially ducks. In fact, you can catch Jeremy on ESPN.com on November 28^th participating in the World Duck Calling Competition!

Darma & Rick flew in from Virginia to join Dick & Mary Bennett from Allegan, MI for some Muskie fishing and Rummy playing. Or was it some Rummy playing and some Muskie fishing? But even die hard Muskie fishermen have to break down and do a little jiggin’ for some shore lunch Walleye. You do what you gotta do for shore lunch!

August brought us the Flexman clan.

The Chicago contingent was here (yep, even sister Susan couldn’t stay away) and the complete Kansas City contingent. It was great to have Jimmy back again, although Connor has taken over the record keeping. Jim also taught us a new way to enjoy cookies at shore lunch. Since there is no microwave to warm your chocolate cookies, you just put them on a spatula over the open fire. Presto, warm cookies with gooey chocolate chips! The Flexmans were also the first to christen the brand new fish cleaning house.

Bear & Linda, our Minneapolis connection, were a little later coming up this summer, going for that full moon in early August. Bear got his fishing contest title back this year, but Linda was only one good Muskie behind. Linda had a new lure that she wanted to test to see how it ran so she flipped it off the front dock for a test. You guessed it, a nice Northern snatched it right up! Guess that lure ran just fine.

The Marx family from down around our neck of the woods in Iowa helped us with the ceremonial burning of the old fishhouse. It made a great bonfire. So first thing after the fire was out, they head out for a little fishing just off of the little island out front. Harley nails a 29 inch, 8 pound Walleye. Then, a few days later, just when you think you’ve seen it all, Mike & Carissa both caught the same Crappie at the same time. It had one hook in each side of its mouth!

We had some first time guests from North Dakota this August. The Osowskis were great. It was a short stay so they packed in some serious fishing and got it done – 2 shore lunches and a limit for everyone to take home – in 2.5 days. Yeah, there’s no fish in this lake…

And the clean plate award goes to the Niemira group from the Chicago area. Those guys sure knew how to keep the cook happy, even if they tended to sleep in a bit…breakfast at 8? Sure! Gee, it’s past 8:30, where are those guys? No problem, they cleaned up every crumb.

We finished up August with guests from Fort Frances. Dorothy Leinenger surprised Jamie Hartnell with a birthday get-away weekend at Black Island. Turns out that Dorothy is originally from Preston, IA, which is two towns south of where our farm is. Jamie is from Rainy River so we all know lots of the same people, but had never met before. What a small world! Obviously, Jamie had a great birthday!

Hey, summer finally arrived on August 29^th! Oh sure, it gets hot right when we need cool weather to keep the bears moving for our hunters. Early September was beautiful. Lots of fish caught. Sally Korolewski, from Manitowoc, WI out-fished John again, this time with a 30.5 inch Walleye, 9.5 pounds! But John got some good action bear hunting. He was bow hunting and had a big one come right beneath his stand. He could have patted it on the head!

Jamie Melton won the first and biggest bear pot for his bear from his group of guys from the Quad City area. He edged out Larry Morine by 20 pounds. Both had really nice bears. Dan Banks, of Banks Outdoors in southern Minnesota got his money’s worth on his bear hunt. While he was down out of the stand checking on the bear he had just shot, another bear came in to the bait. Don’t know who was more surprised, Dan or the bear!

Those bear hunters also had some entertainment from some of our fishermen. Roy Fulsaas and his guys from NW Iowa had some great stories each day after fishing. These guys have been fishing together for more than fifty years. Our favorite was the Walleye that got away because Kenny (who’s a little hard of hearing) thought Roy asked him for a “nut” instead of the “net”. He couldn’t figure out why Roy wanted a nut….

We had a wonderful week with George Fleming in late September (he was checking out that second trip discount!). He also discovered “Hoffman’s Bay” where he was catching Walleye on one side of the reef, Crappies on the other side and Smallmouth on the top. Speaking of Hoffmans, Ron was back as usual for the last week of the season along with his Dad, Don, and brother Jim. There were some really serious (and LOUD) games of Hearts. Don is really a vicious player for an 80 year old! He took some hide off of Gary Burton, “the delusional Hearts Player” – he thinks he’s the North American Hearts Champion – and “Er” – Steve Plasterer, the king of side bets. Keith Rooney joined these guys for a few days and survived…thank goodness for Bloody Caesars!

Our hunting season ended with a great bunch of guys from Allied Industrial Supply, out of Milwaukee and Wausau. Hunting is always an adventure as Curt & Todd found out on their little woods walk …so Curt where was your compass? Al needed a little help with his fishing luck so he bought a Black Island hat, which Barb blessed, and he caught fish! Barb’s good…

As usual, we were busy “do’in and fix’in” in September. This year it was the lodge. We resided the east side along with replacing the windows. We also added another window in the dining room. The windows are larger so we have a really wonderful view of the lake from the dining room.

So how did our 2009 season end at Black Island? As Don Hoffman said on the ride back to the mainland for his trip home…”In all of my 80 years, I have never been on a fishing trip or been in a boat when it snowed.” Guess what? It started snowing the night before his departure and the trip in to Pier North was in a snow storm!

As usual, for those of you have dates for 2010 penciled in, we’ll need to have your deposits in by the end of the year to hold those dates. We’ll be doing our sport shows this winter February 18 – 21, 2010 at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island, IL and February 26 – 28, 2010 at the Deer Classic at Shopko Hall in Green Bay, WI. Stop by and see us if you’re in the area.

We would like to thank you all for being the wonderful guests that you are. If you had as great a time as we did, pass the word about Black Island to your friends. Even better, share the experience and bring them along next time. We would love to meet them!