Whatever floats your boat

I fought through nasty wind chills on Sunday to attend the Boat Show at River Centre in St. Paul. I was on a mission to upgrade my fishing rig, either by making improvements to my existing boat or buying another.

It didn't take long to experience sticker shock at the price of new boats. I saw many in the $15,000 range and one fully-decked Ranger was listed for $55,000. That's more than double what I paid for the three vehicles I own!

Needless to say, some serious discipline was needed to curb my interest in these high-priced rigs. Applying a substantial dose of moderation, I made my final stop at a display of much more moderately-priced boats. I found something that will fill the bill for less than $5,000 and is substantially bigger than my current 14-foot aluminum boat. But, the price doesn't include the motor.

I'm still debating what to do here. Because I fish the Minneapolis city lakes -- Calhoun, Lake of the Isles and Cedar -- where no outboard motors are allowed, I may not need an outboard. I could get by with a good electric motor, which costs far less than an outboard. I like the idea of saving money and also "going green" by using an electric motor over a gas-powered one. Besides, my brother has an outboard motor that he's not using and I may be able to borrow it when I need to. So, I have options.

Fishing for Fred

I sure hope Fred Tilbury's fishing dreams come true. Like most anglers, this young boy is thinking ahead to summer and catching a big fish.

But, unlike most of us, he'll be fighting for his life in the meantime. I met Fred on Friday (Feb. 1) at St. Helena School in Minneapolis. Fred, a first-grader, was there with his parents, Dave and Naomi, for a fund-raising benefit on his own behalf.

Fred was diagnosed with a brain tumor that is cancerous and inoperable. The news came right before Christmas and stunned both his family and the school. As he started radiation treatments to, hopefully, prolong his life, the family and school came up with the idea to have students, teachers and parents come to the school for a mass head shaving in support of Fred, who wanted to cut his hair off before losing it to the radiation treatments. A story on Fred with a photo will appear in this week's Catholic Spirit (Feb. 7 edition).

Though the family isn't sure what lies ahead for Fred, the uncertainty hasn't kept them from making plans for this summer. They have planned a trip to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in July for 10 days. It's a natural idea for a family that likes to get out on the water.

"We go fishing quite a bit," said Fred's father, Dave. "We try to get out on the weekends."

Here's hoping -- and praying -- that Fred will have many more fishing trips ahead of him.

Walking the walk

Kathy Schneeman of Mendota Heights and St. Joseph in West St. Paul has a back yard any outdoors enthusiast would envy. The wooded ravine that begins almost right outside her back door is a travel corridor for many animals, including deer and wild turkeys, which she sees regularly.

Within the last few months, she has been sharing the view with a friend of hers at St. Joe's -- Deb Magnuson. Deb recently was diagnosed with breast cancer and Kathy decided to invite her to come over and walk with her as she endured the rigors of chemotherapy.

"During the chemo part, when she was sick, it was fall and early winter," Kathy explained. "There were some beautiful days and so we would make arrangements ahead of time to get out and do a power walk together, to get her outside and moving. Or, sometimes, I would just stop at her house on the way home from the grocery store."

The walks served a therapeutic purpose for both of the women. Once the snow fell, the walks turned into cross country ski trips. Kathy is happy to report that Deb is doing "wonderful. Her hair is growing back and she's got a lot of energy."

Kathy regrets that she will not be able to go on as many walks and ski trips as she used to. Recently, she was hired as the new archdiocesan Respect Life coordinator for the Office of Marriage, Family and Life and will start her new full-time job on Monday (Feb. 4). She is excited about this new opportunity and is eager to get busy.

A story on her and her new job will appear in the Feb. 7 edition of The Catholic Spirit. Personally, I think she is a great fit for this job. She has lots of energy and passion for the pro-life cause and the seven children she has with her husband, Eric, is a great pro-life witness.

Guess who's coming to dinner?

It was payback time at my house last night (Jan. 21). At 5:30 p.m., the doorbell rang and in came Archbishop Roger Schwietz, the archbishop of Anchorage, AK.

He was in town to preside at the wedding of his niece and we arranged for him to stop in for dinner while he was here. I was thrilled and so was my wife, Julie. Both of us had been treated like royalty by Archbishop Schwietz when we visited Anchorage in July. I was on assignment for The Catholic Spirit to feature the life of Archbishop Schwietz, who grew up in St. Paul and attended Cretin High School (now Cretin-Derham Hall).

We wanted to give him something truly Minnesotan, so I made grilled venison steaks. I marinated some of the steaks in a special teriyaki sauce made by Allegro and they were delicious. Grilled venison steaks are one of our family's top wild game meals and we wanted to give Archbishop Schwietz nothing but the best.

It was a delightful evening, both in terms of food and fellowship. Our family truly enjoyed the visit and I told Archbishop Schwietz that I hoped that he would return for another wild game dinner next year. He, in turn, said he hopes our whole family can come up to Anchorage someday. I said I'd love to, but there's this little matter of coming up with six airfares to Anchorage.

The archbishop has had one interesting change in his life since my visit to Anchorage. He recently was named Apostolic Administrator for the Diocese of Juneau, which borders the Archdiocese of Anchorage. He replaces Bishop Michael Warfel, who was named bishop of the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings in Montana. The plan is to find a permanent replacement to serve in Juneau, but Archbishop Schwietz said he's not sure when that will happen.

Until then, he will be very busy in his dual pastoral roles. Unfortunately, that will leave him a lot less time to enjoy hunting and fishing, which he likes to do whenever he can.

My wife and I agreed that we should be praying for Archbishop Schwietz. I urge other Catholics to do the same.

Deer stand in the city?

I couldn't believe my eyes. There, on West Broadway Avenue in Robbinsdale, stood what looked like a deer stand.

In fact, some folks even call it that. But, this label was not used by the woman perched in the wooden structure, Kathy Freed of St. Vincent de Paul in Brooklyn Park. Truth is, she's not a hunter at all. She's a pro-life sidewalk counselor who stands in the structure so that people who visit the abortion clinic next door can see her over the high fence installed in an attempt to shield clinic visitors from people like Freed.

"They [clinic employees] call it a deer stand," she said. "I call it my little treehouse."

So goes the cat-and-mouse game played between the clinic and abortion protesters like Freed. I was able to witness firsthand Freed's commitment to saving the lives of unborn children when I stopped by earlier this week to photograph her and talk about the volunteer work she does as a sidewalk counselor.

I have a feeling I'll think about her next November when it comes time to climb into a tree stand for the firearms deer season. For all those who will be out there doing the same thing as me that day, I have this suggestion:

Pray for people like Freed as they continue to peacefully try and save unborn children and put an end to abortion. And, pray that we can end abortion in this country and around the world.

How do fish measure up?

I recently returned to an ice-fishing trip on Upper Red Lake. The details of my experience will be featured in my upcoming monthly outdoors column. For now, I'd like to sound off on a hot topic on Upper Red and other lakes that have slot limits.

It has to do with fish measuring and how the DNR measures fish and handles violations of the slot limit. I have talked to anglers and resort owners on Upper Red Lake on a number of occasions about this topic. I also talked to someone from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) about this topic. He works in Bemidji and says Upper Red Lake is under his jurisdiction.

It seems anglers have gotten upset since Upper Red reopened to walleye fishing in 2006. The reason is that there have been reports of people who thought they had measured fish correctly in their boats, then had their fish measured by the DNR after getting back to shore and discovering that one or more were longer than 17 inches, which puts them in the protected slot of 17-26 inches.

Along with these reports comes tales of DNR enforcement officers measuring and remeasuring fish, pinching the tail until it just nudges past the 17-inch mark, then giving the angler a citation with an accompanying hefty fine.

I have two responses to this issue. First, I think anglers should get smart about measuring their fish. The best advice I got was from someone at West Wind Resort on Upper Red Lake. He recommended buying a special measuring trough that has a ruler embossed on the bottom. You place the fish in the trough, push its nose against the flat end, flatten the fish out, squeeze the tail and measure where the tip is. If it's under 17, keep it. If it's exactly on the 17 mark or longer, throw it back.

Some even recommend using the 16 3/4 mark or even 16 1/2 as a guide. That's fine, but I'm confident enough in my measuring (I've had lots of practice) that I stretch my length limit to 16 7/8. It's rare that I've had a fish this length but, when I do, I remeasure the fish so I can be sure it's under 17. I may even flip my fish over and measure it from the other side.

Second, I think the DNR should work harder to help educate people on how to correctly measure fish. Some of the people I have talked to seemed surprised at how meticulously enforcement officers measure fish. I'm also not sure if people realize how important it is to flatten the fish and pinch the tail. This is something the DNR should be helping people learn. After all, it takes everyone working together to keep the resource healthy. That's part of what stewardship is all about.

In my conversation with the DNR guy from Bemidji, I brought this up. He offered what I thought was an interesting perspective. He was well aware of the stories coming from Upper Red about overzealous enforcement officers handing out lots of tickets for very slight violations of the slot limit. But, his take on it was this: Those who got tickets probably acted like jerks to the officers and got a ticket more because of that than because of the violation itself. His advice is to act calmly and politely to an officer and avoid getting into a heated confrontation.

In all the times I've been to Upper Red, I've only been checked by the DNR once. It happened last summer while I was on the water with the winner of The Catholic Spirit kids fishing essay contest, Maddie Weathers of Hastings. The officer came to the boat, asked if we had caught any walleyes, then looked in the live well when we said yes. Even though we had one fish that measured 16 3/4, he did not measure any of our fish. He simply said, "OK, have a nice day" and continued on. So, I can't say I've personally had a bad experience with the DNR.

If anyone has had a personal encounter with a DNR enforcement officer, good or bad, I'd like to hear about it.

2007 Outdoors Highlights

As the year draws to a close, it's time to reflect on my outdoors experiences of 2007. All in all, it was a great year, filled with lots of forays into the woods and waters of Minnesota and beyond. Here is a summary of the year's great moments:

Ice fishing on Upper Red Lake
After going more than a decade without hitting the frozen water, I decided to give it a try in January. I'm glad I did. I took my Dad, Ray, and two oldest sons, Joe and Andy, to Upper Red Lake to spend several days in an ice-fishing shack. My very first fish was a beautiful 14-inch crappie, my biggest ever. Each of the boys also caught a big crappie each. Plus, we caught some nice walleyes and were able to take home our limit of two each. I'm going back to Upper Red Lake on New Year's Day to try it again. I plan to write my monthly outdoors column about the trip. Stay tuned!

Spring turkey hunting
For the first time, I hunted wild turkeys in three states: Missouri, Wisconsin and Minnesota, in that order. I hunted in Missouri with Father Joe Classen of the Archdiocese of St. Louis. He took me to his prime hunting spots, but the birds were quiet and elusive for three days. Still, it was a fun experience. Then, I came back home and hunted in Wisconsin, first with Joe and Andy and then with my friend Jim Rienhardt on land his family owns. Both hunts were successful. Andy shot a nice bird the first week in May, then I followed with another a week later. Needless to say, we'll be back in Wisconsin this spring. I only hunted one day in Minnesota, this time with my brother, Paul. We had fun, but couldn't pull a bird in close enough for a shot. We'll both get another try at Minnesota birds this spring.

More walleye action on Upper Red
I went fishing twice in the summer on Upper Red and had fantastic action both times. In May, I had to go to Bemidji to take a photo to use on the cover of the 2008 Minnesota Catholic Directory. So, I took my wife, Julie, with me and we went to Upper Red after I got done with the photos. We fished from shore in the Tamarac River, which flows into Upper Red, and caught about 50 walleyes in about five hours and took home our limit of two each. Where else can you do that well fishing from shore? Then, in June, our whole family went back up to Upper Red so that I could write a story on the winner of The Catholic Spirit Kids' Fishing Contest, Maddie Weathers of St. Elizabeth Seton in Hastings. She caught her first walleye ever and everybody caught lots of walleyes. It was a phenomenal trip and I plan on going back again this year. And, special thanks to West Wind Resort for donating the grand prize of two days and nights at the resort for Maddie and her family.

Bass bonanza
This was my best year ever for bass fishing, one of my all-time favorite outdoor activities. I hit the lakes very hard over the summer and had some nice fish to show for it. I equaled my mark for biggest bass ever with a 20-incher I caught on Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis in August. That followed a 19 1/2-incher I caught in July, also on Calhoun, which is proving to be my top lake for big bass. In all, I caught at least a half dozen bass that went 19 inches or longer, the highest single-season total of my fishing career. Can't wait to hit the lakes again this summer!

Big Sky adventure
I bagged my first antelope and mule deer ever during a hunt near Great Falls, MT with my father-in-law, Bob Guditis, and my brother-in-law, Jerry Gray, and sister-in-law, Jessica Gray. We saw lots of animals in our October hunt and it looks like we'll be going back next year, probably over Thanksgiving. That's prime time for hunting deer and elk and I'm hoping to try for my first elk ever.

Fall walleye excursion
This year was the fourth annual fall walleye trip to Lake of the Woods with my friend Pete Wolney, a classmate of mine at Totino-Grace High School (1979). This was our best year ever for big fish. Pete caught a 28-inch walleye, plus a 25-incher, while I pulled in a 24 1/2-incher and a 24-incher. Pete has caught the biggest fish all four years, while I have caught the most all four years. I guess that's a good balance, but I told Pete it's my turn to catch a wall-hanger next year. Actually, I had a big one on this year, but it got off. That'll give me something to think about 'til October comes.

I'm thankful for the many times I was able to enjoy the outdoors in 2007 with family and friends and I pray I will have many more opportunities in the coming year!