Never-ending Winter

     April 19th and the ground is still buried under seven inches of white. The ice normally sinks from the local lakes around the 10th and now looks to be at least two weeks away. Call that late, late. Figure the up north lakes at a week or so after. The Boundary Waters lakes I would most likely fish, another week after that. Not that big a deal, it's happened before. Back in '66 the ice came off the lakes my buddy Rod and I were fishing on Memorial Day, went a long way toward explaining our bad luck a week later.
     So what does a fisherman expecting at least three trips up north this year do? Oils reels and winds line of course. Yup, they're ready to go even if Mother Nature ain't.
     There is an upside. The small, fly-in lakes my son and I are off to in late June should be primed and ready for action. Yeah, hope springs even if spring doesn't. I've got a vision of those Nungesser River widenings and it tells me they fit me about right. All told, no more than eight hundred acres with the biggest at a spit over three. Even the name, Night Hawk Lake, draws me. Wrote an entry a few years back that'll be in Deadman Lake when it comes out titled, 'Small Lakes Fit Me Best'. Yup, where we'll be going could easily be fished by canoe. There's even what appears to be a mile and a half of navigable river that'd take us north into Nungesser Lake proper should we want to flounder on big water. But being a cheap bugger at heart, the extra cost for an additional flight is beyond my idea of affordable.
     All the spinners are wired up and done. Eight of them are even double bladed. Don't know if they'll work but we'll find out.
   

Nail Polish

     Back home and it's time to paint the blades. The idea is to replicate a Mepps #5 red and white without getting too cute and violating any copyright or patent laws. Don't know if that's a consideration but figure the Mepps has caught a whole lot more fish than a Picasso so I best be careful.
     The idea is to head to our closest drug store with a blade in hand - I bought a bunch of white ones -  and match up the Mepps red with an appropriate nail polish. Truth is I figure Mepps tried their best to duplicate the color of fish blood. Seems fish like an easy meal and will go for the wounded figuring they'd be easier to catch. I don't know that for fact but then I know little for fact and somehow have managed to survive. Call ignorance and imagined truth my guiding principles of life.
     My first lure paintings were done with tape and spray paint. Not perfect but solidly okay. Then one day I came upon a one buck rack of closeout nail polish and the lightbulb lit. Looked like paint, was durable in water (even said so on the rack) and best of all, had a paint brush right in the bottle. I bought a half dozen. Turned out most offended me but not so the one called Ruby Pumps. Wow! A rich red with tiny sparkly flecks, three coats sure did look pretty on a spinner blade. Even caught fish. What more could an outdoorsman want?