Fishin report for Lake Iwanttobethere..

Bobby Bass · February 24, 2013

Already here at the resort the red needle on the jumping deer thermometer is edging past thirty-five. The thermometer was donated by Elmer who had it inside his garage. Since we are thinking of keeping things old looking a new clean thermometer would look out of place. Saturday was a busy day here at the resort as we took advantage of the forty-five degree day. It was warm enough to work in shirt sleeves if you were standing in the sun. Forty-five always seems to be a magic number, in the fall it is getting cool enough to wear flannel jackets and people start wearing socks in their shoes. In the spring forty-five is pretty close to a heat wave and if you get two days in a row of it someone will be seen wearing shorts.

Another coat of mud was put down on the drywall by yours truly yesterday and this morning Hank and Skinny are sanding it down. Yesterday they found an old box fan in one of the storage rooms that has a broken blade and it looks like it was used in a kid's room as their are pieces of stickers stuck on it. When Vic saw the fan he snapped his fingers and pointed at it. "I remember renting out a camping spot to a guy who drove an orange VW bus, he left in a hurry and left that fan behind, We just tossed it in storage in case he ever came back" I looked at the old broken down box fan in the window and I knew I knew something about it but I just could not put my finger on it.

The rest of yesterday afternoon was spent working outside, My snow rake from back at the cabin was put to good use as Hank and Skinny went around and started cleaning off the north sides of cabin roofs and outbuildings of snow. Chuck had the snow blower going and was busy widening paths to cabins and outbuildings and I started at the Clubhouse working on outside doors tighten screws and spraying hinges and door locks. I spent the entire afternoon just getting doors to swing freely, a few I had to use the hand plane on but I didn't take to much off of the doors, odds are they will swing freely once the frost gets out of the ground.

Elmer and Vic were working in the bait room, the Clubhouse has a bait room where minnow tanks were kept and then there was a small addition that was added to the clubhouse to serve as a bait shop. It was never much of a building Vic said, just someplace to keep the weather off your head and something to nail screen to for some skeeter protection. The bait door was on my list and when I came around with my tool bag I could hear the two of them deep in conversation and the rattling of a tape measure. With my appearance they both used me to bounce some ideas off. When the snow is gone they were thinking they could put up a proper building and we could have a real bait shop. Would never be any thing to compete with the Masterbaiters Shop but it could have some tackle and of course some live bait.

Chuck came around the side of the building with the snow blower and seeing us all gathered he shut his machine off and came over to join in on the conversation. "You know my daughter traps leeches and minnows and she already asked me if we would be needed any" he said. I could see everyone was thinking as no one was talking, myself included. I would not mind having a little place where I could exchange some fishing hot spots and maybe make a little gas money, Hmmmm from Lake Iwanttobethere {969,091}

Bobby Bass · February 25, 2013

Sunday afternoon found me in one of the garages at the Resort, it being a silent Sunday I was pretty much left alone. The garage that I was in was actually the shop for the resort and it had been picked clean of tools but not of left over "Goodies." One man's trash is another man's gold comes to mind as the rafters were filled with old pieces of trim and pipe. Rolls of wire screen and plastic tubing, various lengths of two by fours and angle iron. With all the weight I don't know how the roof was not sagging any more then what it was. I did find one pleasant surprise under a tarp and a bunch of old watering cans and some garden hose. A belt driven table saw that to my surprised started right up and purred when I plugged it in. The garage was soon echoing the high whining sound of a blade coming up to speed and then the steady hum as it ran. Turning the saw off I removed the blade and secured it in the vise that was bolted to the heavy work bench, finding a file I sharpened it, old school style..

With a working saw I inspected the black box steel stove and the stove pipe was a little messed up and thin. Not to worry, I poked around and found a few lengths of stove pipe. A few silent curses and a small cut on my thumb later I had a clean and working stack again. With the saw blade back on the saw I cut up some wood and there soon was fire in the stove and heat in the shop. The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting wood and cleaning out a corner where I made a wood rack to house the "Good Stuff" I found out someone spent a lot of time out in the shop as I unburied an old tube style radio. I plugged it in and a few tubes started to grow red but no sound. I let it warm up and followed a bare antenna wire that went up into the rafters then out the end of the shop. I found the end of wire in a coil wrapped around a nail hanging on the side of the shop.

I straighten the wire and looked for a place to hang it, eyeing a pine behind the shop I saw the tattered other end of the wire. Must have broken so I just stretched out what I had and made a mental note to get more wire if the radio still works. I went back inside and still no noise from the radio, like every good repairman I did what sometimes seems to work, I slapped the radio on it's side and I got noise. Turning up the volume and fiddling with the station knob I found a baseball game. Took awhile before I could figure out who was playing but it didn't really matter. The radio worked and I had the sound of baseball, a working table saw and heat. As I went through the old shop there actually was a lot of stuff that we can use but there was a lot of stuff that should have been pitched long ago. Before long I had a pile of stuff to be put in the fire and another pile just outside the door to be hauled away.

Back at the Clubhouse Vic's space was coming together. The last skim coat of mud had been applied and Hank had gone in with the sprayer and primed everything. Since white goes with everything Hank then came in and shot all the walls white. Tomorrow my wife and Tess will hang wallpaper borders and do so other fancy stenciling. I told Vic he better hang around otherwise he will come back to rooms covered in daisies and roses. Chuck and Skinny are working upstairs in the bed and breakfast moving doorways and making a center hall. They came up to the shop looking for some real two by fours which I just happen to have and took them back with them. I found a beat up chaise lounge missing a leg that I made an ugly fix by nailing a piece of one by to. I set it in the doorway and sat back and listen to some baseball and the sound of the guys working in the Club House. A pretty good way to spend a silent Sunday, from Lake Iwanttobethere {971,395}

Bobby Bass · February 26, 2013

Pretty quiet here at the Lodge this morning for it being eight in the morning the sun is already pretty high up in the sky. Twenty degrees out and that felt a little cool on the walk from my parking space to the back door of the Lodge. Last couple of days the afternoons have been nudging into the low forties and the blacktop section of the parking lot is free of ice and snow and is actually dry for the first time in months. Footpaths are another story as the water run off from the parking lot has turned snow into slush and in the early morning when it is all frozen it makes for some treacherous walking.

Bud and Barney both came into town with me this morning, they did a quick walk around the outside of the Lodge and both of them are now sprawled on the wicker couch waiting for the sunshine to hit them. Duncan is back at the cabin with the wife, she is baking this morning and I have this suspicion that Duncan has become her cookie sampler. I think Bud and Barney want a day away from the young dog to. This running around all the time and digging in snow banks is a younger dog's game. I have the laptop set up at the end of the bar and I have my mug of orange juice close at hand. Bud looks at me with one eye open, I don't know how but he always seems to know when I am talking or writing about him and his brother.

Gus has a few days off so I am at the Lodge, Gus has gone on one of them bus fishing trips with his brother in law. Early yesterday they drove a few towns over and caught a party bus heading north to fish for a few days. Kind of a north woods what happens on the lake stays on the lake trip. Lodge orders were all called in yesterday and today vendors will be delivering goods. Word has gotten out about the resort and the delivery guys are looking for ways to barter. I am making some deals and since most of the guys are Lodge members things are working out. We might have hit on a good idea with the Resort but we are getting dangerously close to making a job out of the place. As soon as Vic is moved in we are going to take a little more relaxed working attitude which I think will be impossible to do.

I say that because the guys, myself included are really enjoying fixing up the place. This is something we are doing for ourselves and after years of working for someone else and being watched over your shoulder this is, dare I say it, fun. We have a good group of guys together who have known each other not for years but for decades. We have fished together, hunted together, got lost together raised kids and grand kids. My own kids call all of these guys Uncle. Now add in a good Lake Iwanttobethere work ethic and the motto of Do it right Do it once and I am really looking forward to kicking back and enjoying the place.

Now the other side of the coin, we have a lot to do. With snow melting things are appearing and it is not looking good. As a resort it has seen better days. When I did my walk around fixing doors I started to notice a lot of neglect, cabin windows all need work, some cracked glass, missing storm windows and torn screens. Picnic table missing boards or legs in some cases. Going to be a lot of painting and staining. At our last dinner we decide to work on the rooms of the bed and breakfast so we can use them for ourselves. Then after we get the Club House in shape we will go through one at a time as a group and fix up the cabins. The order of cabins is yet to be determined but a suggestion of a poker game has been made, I'm in trouble from Lake Iwanttobethere {973,605}

Bobby Bass · February 27, 2013

So where did the month go? With working at the resort and break for the grand kids already here and gone the month went by really quick. Shanties are off the ice and the S.S. Mistake was dragged all the way down to the resort and has been pulled up onto the bank. Elmer's house is up and back along side his garage as is mine. From my vantage point here at the Lodge I can still see traffic on the ice of Lake Iwanttobethere as guys are still chasing crappies and perch. I did notice the steelhead guys were gathered around a table last night here at the Lodge talking about water levels in Mystery Creek. Not a lot of snow in the woods but March has proven in the past to be very capable of dumping deep snow on us. If it had not been for the ten inches of rain we got in that June storm last year we would have been under norm for the season.

Yesterday I spent working the Lodge and a very common line I heard all day was "I got to go fishing" I know I said it several times myself. I am of course not talking about ice fishing, I am talking about fishing out of the Puddle Humper with the only ice being the stuff in my cooler. With talk of opening the bait shop at the resort the spring fishing tackle order now takes on a different look. During quiet time yesterday I did some work on the computer looking for some wholesale connections and started a wish list on a yellow legal pad. Being a bass man I have that part covered but I need to see what we need for the live bait fishermen and the walleye guys. I have at times pulled a few shifts down helping Vicki out at the Masterbaiters shop so I do know a few of the vendors. Stocking the shelf's and pegboard in the shop will be a lot like filling a new tackle box only a lot lot bigger.

The melt continues today but under overcast skies. Not as warm as yesterday but snow is melting a little. At the resort Chuck called me and told be they tried to use the tractor to lift a few picnic tables out of the snow but they were frozen in. He found that out when he lifted the top right off one of the tables. We will have to wait till the snow all melts away so we can go tap the legs with a sledge hammer to loosen them. We will have to time that right as we don't want the ground to thaw and then leave ruts from the tractor all over the place. Chuck is going to haul his portable saw mill over to the resort. With the need for picnic table wood we figure we can drop some of these big pines and mill some two by eight's. Might as well drop the trees while we have some snow on the ground. Also there are a few trees that can go so we can get some more light to hit the ground around some of the cabins.

Tomorrow Vic will be moved from the retirement home to his new digs at the resort. Painting is completed along with some of the decorating. Carpet is down and the hardwood floors have been coated and are drying. Just amazing what a crew of guys can get done when they want to work and no one is taking hour long breaks. Upstairs rooms have been patched and Skinny is doing the muddling since I am working at the Lodge. Vic has been working the phone and Marv and Elmer are still planning the new bait shop layout. Hammering Hank hauled my junk pile to the dump from the shop and told me I can go ahead and start another one. But right now I need to get back to my fish hook catalog, from Lake Iwanttobethere. {975,660}

Bobby Bass · February 28, 2013

So if forty-five feels so warm this time of the year why does twenty-five feel so cold? This morning on the drive into the Lodge I had the heater on and the windows rolled up. Duncan was sitting in the passenger seat looking out the window and smearing it with his nose. Driving down Main Street I saw the little cardboard signs stuck into the snow banks declaring no parking, snow removal. Has been a few winters since we had big enough snow banks that they needed to be removed. Speaking of snow Sunshine Ray is calling for some snow today and it might happen. It just feels like it should snow with some cool damp weather. Mother Nature is teasing us some, you would think at my age I would not fall for it but I was kind of hoping for a real early and warm spring.

Moving day for Vic and I had gone to the Lodge to borrow the two wheel hand cart and also some boxes that I had set aside. Gus had returned from his fishing trip late last night as they had some problems with the bus. Well actually not the bus but the bus driver. From what I was told they got the bus driver a little drunk, well actually really drunk the night before and he was not sober enough to drive the next morning. It sounded like it was a plan because several of the guys on the trip took the extra morning to go fishing. By the time the driver was ready to go he was sporting a pretty good hangover and they persuaded him to take an extended rest stop at the casino on the way back. The guys on the bus then demolished the free buffet before hitting the blackjack tables. When Gus got back last night he came in with a big grin on his face as he did quite well on the blackjack table and said he might be a little late into work this morning.

With Duncan curled up on my office chair sleeping I opened the Lodge for business. Drapes were pulled open and a few lights turned on, embers in the fire stirred and wood added. Vinny had stocked all the coolers last night and there was really nothing more for me to do. With no one around I got out a cigar and made my way to one of the big overstuffed chairs by the fire. I turned it to face the deck windows and made myself comfortable. Duncan had moved from the office to the rug in front of the fire and I leaned over the side of the chair to rub him some behind his ears. I think he has claimed me as his. More often then not when I sit down somewhere he is close at hand. He of course spends time with the wife and grand kids when they are over but when he wants to be away from them he finds me. The wife complains he is a pest and I tell her to stop feeding him her cookies. But I also catch her from time to time petting him and having conversations with him. Duncan of course does not talk back to her but he is a very good listener. He cocks his head from side to side and will make whining sounds like he agrees with what she is saying.

With half of my cigar in ash in the glass tray along side of me Gus comes in through the back door. Duncan sits up and his tail moves slowly side to side, He knows Gus and I know Gus sneaks him cookies from time to time. Gus with his coat on turns another of the heavy chairs to face the deck window looking out over Lake Iwanttobethere and sits down heavy in it. We exchange HIYA's and then Gus begins to tell me about his fishing trip and what it is like to spend two days and two nights in a sleeper on the ice with guys who only brought beans to eat with their fish, from Lake Iwanttobethere {978,051}

Bobby Bass · March 1, 2013

March first and I am already looking forward to summer, going to skip right over spring and get to the warm stuff. I'll make it official, I have had enough of winter. Well most of winter, last night after Vic was moved into his newly remodeled digs some of us gathered in the bar area to watch some high school hockey and when it was done we changed channels and caught the end of the local pro game. Both the teams we were pulling for won which means there will be some more hockey for us to watch down the road. Maybe it was the cold cardboard boxes or the handles on the two wheel cart but I just could not get my hands warm after we were done. I moved my chair close to the potbelly stove and Hammering Hank told me if I got any closer I was going to look like a roasted marshmallow.

I was warm on the stove side but still cold on the other side. This morning I was fine till I went outside with the dogs and bang my hands were cold again. Gray overcast sky and some breeze made the twenty degree morning feel cold to me. A few flakes of snow were falling and all the slush was now frozen with dog paw prints pressed in. I retreated back inside the cabin and moved the laptop to the living room and added wood to the fire. So here I sit trying to get warm again, I must be coming down with a cold, just perfect. With today being the first the daughter returns to work at Diggers, just outside of town. The greenhouse adds on their summer help now and the daughter will be working the summer there. I suppose I could go start some plants here this weekend but I have not even picked up seeds yet.

I do have to go into town this afternoon, Big Earl at the General Store told me he has a half spool of some bare wire that will be perfect for the old radio I found in the wood shop at the Resort. I told Elmer about the find and he suggested a way for us to get that wire back into that pine tree. The idea sounded good so I know there is something wrong with it. Elmer idea was to simply tie the end of the wire to an arrow and shoot the arrow up over the top of the tree dragging the antenna wire behind it. I seem to remember him doing this in the past at his cabin and it didn't work. I brought that adventure up and he said he had learn through trial and error that you should not use a hunting arrow with a compound bow and that you should have the end of the wire tied to something. If I remember right when Elmer did it the arrow was shot over the tree to land out in the lake and the wire followed over the tree and also into the lake. The arrow and wire were recovered when it wrapped itself around Chuck's motor on his pontoon. This time Elmer explained we will use one of them Flu Flu arrows and tie the end of the wire to his wrist or better yet someone else's.

Right now I am thinking my time would be better spent taking a nap, call it a preventive cold approach. I think I can find some fishing shows on the TV I will stay away from any ice fishing shows, I am thinking of some saltwater fishing. I have never seen a saltwater show where they are not dressed in shorts and wearing sunglasses. On the first day of March that is the kind of fishing to doze off to, from Lake Iwanttobethere {979,249}

Bobby Bass · March 2, 2013

We have been getting some strange requests on the telephone at the Resort as of late. By themselves they were just nuisance phone calls but we were having lunch together and we started to share them. Then Sheriff Tim stopped by to chit chat with us and relay a message. Seems the Close Enough discount store, home of the ninety-nine cents sale was getting calls from people looking to book camping sites. When Tim said that it suddenly made sense why we were getting calls asking if the ninety-nine cents paper towels were in yet and when were we going to get restocked with the magic orange cleaner. The Resort is getting confused with the store. Close Enuff and Close Enough just sound too close enough to each other. Lucky for us we have not printed any thing with the Resorts name on it so it will not be a big problem changing our name. The problem will be finding a name that we can all agree on, for now we will just refer to the resort as the Resort. Just another reason why we never want too open for business. By the way Sheriff Tim was looking for a cabin opening in late August.

Yesterday I never did get my nap in, got sidetracked doing something that must not have been very important because I don't remember what it was. I do know that we can make the cold official, I have the sniffles as does the wife and the daughter. This is a good thing as we are all having it at the same time. Much better then one getting over it in time to pass it to someone else in the household. I blame the grand kids and their week long break from school being spent here. I am sure they brought the cold here with them. When I make that statement to the wife she opens her arms to her poor little babies and protects them like a mamma bird, "They don't mean it" she said. Today three of them are here sitting on the couch watching cartoons and looking all healthy as I blow my noise yet again.

The day was not a total loss as I did go down to see Vicki at the Masterbaiters Shop. The spring order of fishing rods had arrived and I came down to help stock them and of course look over every single one. I found one to my liking and stuck it in the back room, it will never see the sales floor as I put my name on it and I will work some hours to pay for it. The rod reminds me of the broken one I have at the cabin already and when I came home I took that one off the wall and saw that it was the identical. Last year I broke the tip and a few inches off, it got stepped on and I replaced the tip but it was just not the same. I will now replace it and have to move the broken rod down the pecking order or maybe even retire it. The trouble I have is when I buy a new rod I end up buying a new reel or a new reel gets a new rod. Hard to actually just replace either one without buying the other.

The wife is taking the grand kids down to skate this afternoon and I will be heading to the Resort to help out working upstairs at the bed and breakfast. With some luck by midweek it should be ready for Hammering Hank to put on his paint suit and come in and spray the entire upstairs white. All the wood work needs to get taped up and windows covered. Chuck has the saw mill set up outside of the wood shop and I think he and Skinny were going to drop some Pines today. Actually there is so much going on it is hard to remember everything, Chuck should be writing these updates as he is the general foreman, matter of fact we should have sent Sheriff Tim to him about the name complaint, from Lake Iwanttobethere {981,257}

Bobby Bass · March 3, 2013

I was thinking, yes I have been accused of that from time to time. Anyway I was thinking about docks, maybe because at the Resort we are going to have to replace one or two or maybe even three of them. The past several days have brought some sunshine days and the snow on the ground has taken a hit. Near the shoreline the remains of the docks have started to appear and they do not look anything like docks should. Vic does not remember how long it has been since the docks have been out, he does remember how they used to look. At one time three docks reached out into the waters of Lake Iwanttobethere and they would call them by name. Papa Dock, Mama Dock and Baby Dock. As you may have already guessed the Baby Dock was for the kids and the swimming area was alongside of it. Mama Dock was where the pontoon was tied to and it had a canopy so the ladies could get out of the sun if they wanted to. Papa Dock was where the fishing boats were moored and just down the shore was the landing and parking for the trailers.

We will have to wait for all the snow to melt before we can see if there is anything in the wood piles that can be salvaged. It did get me thinking about docks, I for one can't remember visiting someone and seeing their dock and not wanting to walk out on it. When shore fishing and you have the choice of fishing from the sandy beach or the dock you walk out on the dock. As I write this I am thinking it must be because there is a dock that you have to fish from it. But that is not true because as you are walking down a shoreline to fish and you see a point you naturally walk out to the end of the point to cast. If there is a rock a step away from shore well of course you hop out to the rock and fish from there. If there is a tree down in the water and it is big enough to walk on and you are young enough to do it, you of course walk out and fish from the tree. Maybe it is not the dock that pulls you out maybe it is the urge to get away from shore.

So having said that how do you explain fishing from a boat down a shoreline, you are always casting towards shore. The guy on shore is trying to get out as far as he can and the guy in the boat is sure there is a fish right up along the bank. Which brings me back to docks. There are very few docks that I have drifted by and said "I'm not going to fish that dock" There are a lot of docks that I have approached and said "That is a good looking dock" A good dock is like a good golf shot, you always remember it and you always think you can hit the same shot or catch a big fish from the same dock. More often then not you shank the shot and catch the dock.

Docks are special, rarely do you ever see two of them the same. They may be made by the same company but once they hit the water that is the end of them being alike. Chairs and benches are added to them. Flag poles and owl decoys that never work. Flower pots and drying life vests. Forgotten cups of decomposing worms and flower beach blankets. Rafts and paddle boats tied alongside, fishing boats and pontoons only separated by sun bleached bumpers. Sounds of water lapping against the boats and dock posts. A stringer tied to a cleat and stretching down into the water to the jaw of a two pound northern patiently waiting for it's release. Looking out over the frozen water of Lake Iwanttobethere I can see the docks of the Resort. We will have to get Papa dock back out first but I am sure Mama dock and Baby dock will not be to far behind, from Lake Iwanttobethere {982,745}

Bobby Bass · March 4, 2013

I have been told by the guys at the Resort to stop talking about spring. Sunshine Ray is forecasting six to eight inches of snow for tonight with some twenty-five mile an hour winds, this should make some drifts and bury everything that we have dug up so far. I hold up three seed catalogs that came in the mail today as my defense along with a fishing catalog. I also point out that if you were to walk into Big Earl's General Store you will find a big display of Easter candy and a sign announcing that the baby chicks are on their way. Already there is a space cleared out for the hundred gallon metal water tanks that they hold the chicks in. The tanks already have bedding in them and heat lamps clip to the sides. It is not all my fault that winter is not slipping away quietly.

I can remember when a holiday was celebrated in the week that it was held, now a days we are already skipping over Saint Patrick's Day and looking forward to Easter. I will not be surprised at all if Christmas decorations start showing up at the end of August. Good thing we have the law here at Lake Iwanttobethere that all Christmas decorations must be off your cabins by fishing opener. Speaking of Christmas Elmer and Marv have been out picking up last seasons Christmas trees and hauling them out to the resort. Going to be a pretty big brush pile sunk out off the point I hear. Kind of hush hush as you have to get permission and go through the paper work and such.

Speaking off that there is something I have not really written about, the location of the Resort. As you might have guessed it is not that far by water from where I have my cabin but it is a little out of the way if traveling by road. The bay for lack of a better word is too big to be called a honey hole as I would guess it is about fifty acres or so. There is a channel that comes of the main lake and it makes a couple of tight horseshoe turns before it opens up into the bay. A lot of tall pines on that side of the main lake so unless you are looking for the entrance you can go right by it. I have fished it a few times but mostly when I am seeking shelter from high winds.

The Resort sits on the south shore and directly across from it a small island pops up. An eagle nest rest high in a tree top looking almost like a sentry post. The area around the island is one big reed bed and if you hit it at the right time of the year there are bass there. The bay itself is a well-kept secret for gills and crappies. Even now when Vic and Elmer and Marv are together they look over a hand drawn map and whisper back and forth. I'm thinking there are a few brush piles out there that Vic is not sharing with the rest of us. The east shore is covered in tall pines where as the west shore has a mix of hardwoods, this is where the maple stand that has Chuck's interests rest. The north shore is swampy with cedars and pines and a few birches stand out. No other cabins on the little protected bay as the roads don't reach back in here.

The south shore has a little of everything, including a pretty decent stand of old cedars which Hammering Hank and Chuck are eyeing. Cedar picnic tables would only have to be made once they figure. Vic talks of berry patches and deer and grouse and even a stand of oaks where the squirrels are a nuisance. Even for Lake Iwanttobethere this might be a great place to hang your hat and sit awhile, from Lake Iwanttobethere {985,310}

leechlake · March 4, 2013

6 postings until one million characters? Hope you'll be throwing some sort of celebration.

Congratulations on the upcoming Million!

Bobby Bass · March 5, 2013

On my drive into the resort this morning I was the first one down the road, well maybe the fourth one. Not a tire track just five inches of white powder snow covered the road and made a fresh layer into the woods. I say I am the fourth down the road as I followed three sets of deer tracks that meandered from one shoulder to the other and then down the center of the road. I didn't see the deer but I would imagine it was more than likely a group of does just out looking for food. I made the turn from the main road at the Doze Inn and got a wave from Elise who was outside with a broom pushing at the lite powder that was still falling. I tapped my horn and returned her wave.

I drove at a hunters crawl my camera on the seat alongside of me. Have been hearing reports of some Great Horned owls in the area and I was hoping to spot one and take a picture. It has been a long time since I have seen one of the big birds or for that matter a Snowy either. One of my very few New Year's resolutions has been to always travel with a camera so I made a point to bring one with this morning. This morning Duncan was riding shotgun, content to sit in the passenger seat and spend his time looking out the window and then back at me then back out the window. I was getting that "Are we there yet kind of attitude" from him. About half way down the road he stood up in his seat and froze. I didn't have room to take a picture but it was one of his better in the truck points. I tried to look around him at what he was looking at but he has grown so much he pretty much blocked my view. His tail started to wag and just like that he was done and sat back down. He was now giving me a "Did ya see it kind of look, No, ha to bad for you"

Yesterday afternoon the guys all got together and we had a little meeting. With Vic all moved in we decide we should calm down a little about all this remodeling and kind of pull back some. Snow was in the forecast and if we get as much as what they are calling for a lot of projects are going to be buried. It was decided that we should start a job's jar, for those of us who are married our wife's would be proud of us. We ate the last big pickle from one of the big gallon pickle jars and rinsed it out. Using post it notes we started to write down jobs that needed to be done in and around the Club House. The idea being that we will reach into the jar and pull out a project and finish that one before starting another. Quickly we had about thirty pieces of paper in the pickle jar.

We are slipping into a routine and by the time I got to the Resort Vic was already up and there was a fire in the potbelly stove. Coffee was on and curtains open. I parked the Tahoe and Duncan was out nose in the new snow tracking up the place. I grabbed the shovel by the door and cleaned off the snow from in front of the door and made a couple of passes to the parking area. The lite snow was easy to move and there was no sense in doing much more as someone will get on the tractor and go play later. I worked my way around to the lake side and cleaned a path on the deck to the back door. I turned to look at the lake and take a little breather. I looked out at the little bay all covered in fresh snow and saw a speck heading my way. As I watched the speck grew larger and I could now see that it was a bird, a rather big bird as it got closer. Flying low, maybe my head height above the snow covered ice it rose and dipped with each wing beat and then it turned giving me a profile as it looked down it's wing at me and flew on down the shoreline. A big snowy owl and me with my camera, sitting on the front seat of the Tahoe, from Lake Iwanttobethere {986,505}

Leechlake thanks for noticing, a million reads is going to be pretty cool, has been a goal of mine but I got to thank everyone who keeps coming back and reading.

Bobby Bass · March 7, 2013

Minus two, that is where the red needle of the bass thermometer hanging on the wall of the cabin is resting at this morning, what's with that? We have the first week of March under our belt and that cold stuff is supposed to be nothing but a memory by now. Not a cloud in the sky and the sun is up and it looks like a nice morning till you go outside and find frost on the windshield. The clean white snow that fell just a few days ago has already mixed in with the dirty stuff and there is not a spot in the yard that does not have a dog track or a little color to it. It is that time of the year that it can be cold like this in the morning and we will have running water from melting snow by noon. By night fall you need to watch your step as ice will form in places where there was none that morning, usually on clean bare sidewalks. I use that as my excuse to stop shoveling snow this time of year.

Sixty-five days till the start of fishing but who is counting? Nine weekends which of course is better then ten weekends, we are now under double digits in weekends. Did I mention it is but sixty-five days away from kicking the tires of the Puddle Humpers trailer. Topping off the gas tank and snapping the graph into it's holder. Fixing things that were broken or lost last fall and forgotten about till now. Adding ideas or making modifications to the Puddle Humper that were thought up in the dead of winter with snow beating against the windows and the sound of a crackling fire that was needed to stay warm. Loading rods filled with new line into the rod holders. Clean tackle boxes with everything in it's place. Fresh black block printing along the edges of plastic see through tackle boxes. Worms, Topwater, Jigs, Spoons, Trailers, Spinnerbaits all hand printed and legible.

Clean carpet and charged batteries, coiled rope and a polished hull. Trailer lights tested and tool box stowed. Landing Net checked for holes and a camera with new batteries. Life vests and a throwable cushion, fire extinguisher and a whistle and some flares with a couple of spare spark plugs. An extra drain plug and some duck tape and sandpaper, extra gas line with a primer bulb. Back up prop and flash light so what else am I missing? I have a list around here somewhere, already I can think of things I have failed to mention, fish scale and bug spray come to mind along with pliers and a folding knife. Have not even gotten to the Tahoe with it's trailer jack and spare tire. Oil for the boat gas and boots to wear at the landing, dry towel and water shoes. Only nine more weekends till fishing, I don't know if I will have enough time to get ready?

I am ahead of myself here, it must be the cold effecting me, I have lots of time. After all there is knee deep snow outside my door. I have not seen a robin yet and we just started the state hockey playoffs. I have not sent in my tackle order and no tomato seeds have been started yet. No smelt run no Easter eggs no buds on trees or thunder with rain. And look at that, it is only three above, in the shade! From Lake Iwanttobethere {989,045}

Bobby Bass · March 8, 2013

A couple of inches of snow in the forecast for tonight and a couple of more for tomorrow, it could be worse. Was talk of an ice storm but that has been set aside. I am in a little bit of a dilemma here as I was down at the Master Baiters Shop yesterday afternoon. I was working off that rod I set aside when the UPS guy brought in another shipment of rods. As soon as I open the packing box I saw her. A tall girl six foot six, willowy with eleven eyelet's and a soft yet firm butt. Was thinking she would be a perfect match for my Quantum PT I noticed right away she was very sensitive but I am a little worried about her price. Even with my discount she is twice as much as the rod I have already set aside. I would feel bad about putting the first rod back on that cold rack but someone else will find her. More than likely they would make her their number one girl and use her first when they would go fishing. At best she would be my second or even third choice. You can see I am trying to sell myself on this new rod. For now I have set the new one alongside the other one, both with my name on them but written in pencil.

First batch of tomato seeds were planted yesterday, going to need a lot of tomatoes for the Resort so I thought I would give them a staggered start. The windows at the Resort in the bar room have a nice wide ledge and I set them up there. A new job for Vic to keep an eye on them and he says he is happy to do it. Wait till he finds out how many plants we can start with my new found nursery space. I do have a big roll of greenhouse plastic here at the cabin that I have been holding on to. I am now thinking maybe it will come to the resort and a greenhouse is in the places future. I wrote down "Build Greenhouse" on a note and added it to the others in the second pickle jar that holds out side jobs to do in it.

Over at Chuck's preparations are being made for Maple syrup season, I have not heard if he is going to setup at the Resort or not. More then likely he is going to just stay at his cabin and transport the new syrup from the Maple stand at the Resort. I am sure it will take some time to find the best trees out there and a lot of test tapping. There has been some talk of selling the girlfriend's horses, if they do I will miss the sound of them but I won't have to bribe them with apples anymore when I go make raids on the Maple syrup stock. They are thinking of replacing the horses with a couple of heads of beef. I can see some steaks in my future so I am all for it. I don't think it will take to long for the sounds of steak calling my name to make me forget the snorting of the horses.

Today at the Resort we will finish hanging doors and installing locks upstairs. Rooms have been all painted and woodwork cleaned up. We each have a room upstairs that we can hang our hat and call our own. As the cabins are cleaned up and fixed up we will move out of the upstairs and see about bartering the rooms off this summer. Last night we pulled a new job from the pickle jar for today that someone had snuck in. We are all looking forward to it, from Lake Iwanttobethere {990,927}

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Bobby Bass · March 9, 2013

Waiting for the snow to stop falling here, it is warm out so we are getting that cotton candy sticky stuff. Only a few inches so far but even if it was to stop now I would still have to go out and shovel. Two days ago I planted some tomato seeds and set them on the window ledge at the Resort, we have not seen the sun since then. Last night we sat around Vic's TV and watched a lot of hockey and drank a few beers. Hammering Hank between periods went out to his truck to get his pipe that he forgot. With the period about to start I was wondering why he was taking so long, I was going to have him bring me another beer back. I finally got up and walked over to the door and was going to shout at him, instead I saw him just standing on the deck leaning against the Club House wall, a whisper of smoke coming from his pipe.

My coat was handy so I slipped my arms into and went outside to join him. I heard the door click behind me and I took the few steps to stand alongside of him. Hank looked at me with his pipe clenched between his teeth and spoke around it, All he said was "Quiet" and taking the pipe from between his teeth he pointed out towards the woods. I stood still and looked in the direction he was pointing. At first I didn't see anything so I stuck my hands into the bottom of my coat pockets and leaned back against the Club House wall. I blinked a few times trying to speed up my eyes to adjust to the darkness. Bring my ears in to play I tried to hear what Hank was seeing.

A few snow flakes were falling but not so big that I could hear them land. The ground covered in snow spread out in front of us and was bare till it entered the woods and the dark trunks of trees reached up to the branches. As my eyes adjusted a few stars appeared and you could see then through the branches of the maples. Did not take much thought to mistake the stars as decorations hanging from the trees. A few clouds but they are hard to see, just dark spots in the sky. I searched looking to see what Hank was talking about, no deer that I could see nothing on the ground that was moving. No bird sitting in a tree no owl that I could see looking back at me. I could hear the sound of the TV so I knew the game was back on.

What ever was out there I was not seeing so I whispered to Hank "What are we watching?" Hank looked at me behind a puff of pipe smoke and said "What." "Why do I need to be quiet?" I asked. Hank just smiled and chucked a little, "I said it is Quiet Out" I nodded and understood now. I turned back to look at the woods no longer looking for something, just looking at nothing. It was quiet out.

I could hear the sound of the TV and the Hank puffing on his pipe. I followed a big snow flake as it fell from the sky to land on the railing, I didn't hear it hit. Tree tops were not stirring no wind to move them. I turned when Hank was knocking the bowl of his pipe on the rail, he took a few steps to the door his hand on the handle. He turned to me and just said "Coming?" I shook my head no and shrugged my shoulders, all I said was "Quiet" from Lake Iwanttobethere {993,613}

From now till opener I am going to post along with a lake story an old fishing lure, the first one is this 1925 Baby Tom I am not saying the bait shop at the Resort has any of these, but it is an old shop ran by a lot of old guys!

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Bobby Bass · March 10, 2013

Double by pass, if someone was to ask me what kind of snow we received that would be my answer. The few inches of sticky cotton candy kept falling till it became six inches of sticky snow blower clogging slush. Not a lot of complaining as we do need the moisture and it being Silent Sunday there was not much talking going on anyway. Good snowman making snow though and the grand kids soon were soon rolling balls across the yard. Trouble is no one could pick the balls up to stack them. Chuck came to the rescue as he drove the tractor over and with the bucket he pushed the snow into big piles. The kids then carved their snowmen out of the piles. Smaller snowmen were still rolled up and created but they did not last long as Duncan thought they were built for him to attack. No sooner would a mini snowman be built then Duncan would come charging along to jump and take the head off. I keep saying he would make a great football player.

Daylight saving time is now in effect and to be truthful I forgot all about changing the clocks. I don't wear a wrist watch so I use the sun and today there is none. After the snow was cleared at the cabin or close enuff we packed up and headed over to the Resort. Hammering Hank had already plowed the road and Vic seeing the kids pile out of the Tahoe had a pot of milk warming on the stove to make old fashion hot cocoa. Kids seeing new fresh snow to play in quickly paired up and tried to make snowmen again. The big trees scattered around the Resort were loaded with the heavy snow. No wind to speak of and no sunshine so the trees had not dropped their snow load.

A rather large pine sits close to the wood shop and Hammering Hank had just parked the tractor near it. Having an idea I walked over to the tractor and directed Hank to move closer to the tree. I waved to the grand kids to come see what I had found and they all made their way through the snow to where I was standing. As soon as they were close enough I waved to Hank who dropped the bucket against the big pine trunk. It had the proper effect I was looking for as the tree shuddered a tad then dropped it's load of snow from it's branches on top of the grand kids. I almost made it to the Club House before they caught up and started pelting me with snowballs.

The kids and Hank went inside for cocoa and I stood on the steps trying to shake snow from my hood. As I stood on the deck I watched as three cross country skiers appeared from out of the edge of the tree line and worked their way across the property, heading for the lake. One of them waved at me and I returned the wave. He pulled away from the others and headed in my direction as he came up he was yelling at me about ruining the ski trail and when was I going to fix it. He came to a stop and I let him rant some before I pointed in the direction he came and asked "Ski Trail?" He said yes it was. I shook my head at him and just said "It's my driveway" He made a few more comments before planting his poles and pushing off, guess we are going to have to post a few signs, from Lake Iwanttobethere {997,093}

Chippewa Bait 1913-The Chippewa, Immell Bait Co.

The Chippewa baits date to round 1909 and were made in Blair, Wisconsin [img:center]

Bobby Bass · March 11, 2013

I need to go fishing. That is the line I keep hearing around the Resort and around town for that matter, Yup, I need to go fishing, it is kind of like the answer for all problems this time of year. Yesterday as we shoveled snow I would look over at Chuck leaning on his shovel and he would look back at me and just say "I need to go fishing" I would nod my head and not say anything, nothing needed to be said. I agree, I need to go fishing.

This morning I stood on the deck at the cabin after dragging a ladder down from the shop. I have a valley filled with the heavy wet snow and there is an ice dam. It is on the North side of the cabin and the snow melts at the very top when it is in the sunshine and then flows down the roof back into the shade and freezes. Every few years the conditions are perfect for an ice dam and this last storm the conditions were perfect. I stand on the deck looking at the ice dam and snow and my wife just simply says, "You need to go fishing"

I saw Mark the mailman at the end of the drive and I walked down to chat some, anything to distracted me from the ice dam. He was in the van and it was sitting pretty low, HIYA he said to me, I'm glad you walked down and with that he handed me a stack of fishing and seed catalogs. I looked in the back of the van and it was filled it seemed with nothing but catalogs. I looked at him and simply said "I think you need to go fishing"

Mark drove away but stopped at Elmer's mailbox, I watched as he stuffed some catalogs in and pulled some snow out. The grader just rounded the bend as Mark disappeared around it. Frank the plow driver hunched behind the wheel with the blade down saw me and stopped. "HIYA" I shouted over the idle of the diesel and then it went silent as Frank turned it off. Frank opened the glass door of the grader and turned his two liter Gulp-N-Go coffee mug upside down and shook it a little, a few drops fell from it. "I need to go fishing" is all he said and I nodded in agreement.

As I write this I am thinking there are a fair number of people reading this who would agree, going fishing would be a good thing. I can almost hear the buzzing of florescent lights overhead as you sit at you work station reading this. Maybe not an office setting but I am betting a boat would be a better place to be about right now. Sunglasses and shorts have to be better then what you are wearing. Some of you maybe be lucky enough to pick up your coffee cup and walk over to the window and see your boat, wrapped up under a tarp just waiting for you. The sound of an outboard, the gurgling of water, a loon calling and ducks quacking in protest as the take wing and fly away. A hovering dragonfly inspecting your boat like a custom official. Red winged black birds hanging on to cattails and frogs croaking deep in the reeds. Splashing water in a live well and supper swimming inside. I'm sitting at my desk thinking about breaking up that ice dam, but what I really need to do, is go fishing, from Lake Iwanttobethere {997,960}

Moonlight Dreadnought 1913- The Moonlight Bait Company 1908-1923

The Dreadnought appeared on the scene in 1912. It was a large lure and came in one color combination--red and white. It had 5 treble hooks and front and rear spinners. This odd looking lure appears in ads for 1912 and 1913 and probably was in production for only a short period of time.

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Bobby Bass · March 12, 2013

Early this morning Hammering Hank along with Skinny were out where the county road turns into Main Street. We have the typical Welcome to Lake Iwanttobethere sign out there and then down a few yards we have the obey speeding laws sign and deer crossing sign. Hanging from the Welcome sign is another smaller sign that keeps tracks of how many tourist or visitors come to Lake Iwanttobethere. Today they had to replace the sign as we are expecting to go over one million visitors. People tell me that is a fair size number of visitors,

I was driving by when I saw them standing their admiring their work, a bigger sign with room for another zero someday. As I am driving down the road I pass Diggers Garden Center and I wonder how many people have turned off and went there. Or how many people took the turn on the other side of the road and went to the Golf Course or Driving Range. A few houses are scattered from the Golf Course to the town proper, can't see them from the road but they are marked by mailboxes on a variety of posts. A few roads turn off from Main Street, actually I guess they are no longer roads in town but streets themselves. After a short drive we enter the heart of Main Street with Reed the Realtors store front along side of Doc Burriem's medical office. The Doc is in, as his car is tied by the front bumper to the old hitching post.

Ma and Pa's Grocery Store, Burt's Barbershop, the Middle of the Block Diner all roll by. Marv's Book, Magazine and Cigar Shop and Big Earl's General Store. The Dew Drop Inn and the smell of bread from Amy's Bakery. In this part of town we can see the snow covered ice of Lake Iwanttobethere. If you turn left up Bait Avenue you will find the houses where a lot of the locals live but if you stay straight you will pass under our only street light. On the shore of Lake Iwanttobethere sits Del's Pizza and Sub Shop, home of the Pizza Cannon. Taking the right there the access road will wind around the shore to the public access and the Masterbaiters Shop. If you go left you will drive by the softball field and the skating rink. A short trip up the hill and you will find the Lodge and be able to see Windy the Windmill spinning. Continue down the road and the Eagle Nest campground and access to Mystery River and the Needabeer Brewery. Beyond that is farmland and what we call the back way into Lake Iwanttobethere.

Over the years that it has taken to explore Lake Iwanttobethere the town has changed some. Everyone has gotten a little older but a lot of things have still stayed the same. Doc Burriem still ties his car to the hitching post just like he did his old buggy. The landing is in the same place and people still fish off Root Beer Island looking for crappies. The Lodge and it's hundred year old log walls still welcome people to get out of the rain and sit a spell. You can still hear cows moo at twilight and the ten o'clock freight still rolls by at ten o'clock or close enuff. The deer still don't cross at the deer crossing sign and Big Earl will always greet you at the door of the General Store. Pa will still cut you inch thick bologna at his meat counter and even though he has a modern twist light bulb hanging over his head it is still just the one bulb.

You can still buy pop in glass bottles and launch model rockets at kites in the park when Sheriff Tim is not around. Hunting dogs are welcome just about everywhere and fishing hats and rubber boots are never out of season. Beers are ice cold and cigars stay lit, of course there are some bad days but they are few and far between. People still shake hands and look you straight in the eye. Baseball is played on sand lots and their is no designated hitter. Neighbors know their neighbors and they still borrow stuff from them. Kick the can is still played and kids still ride bikes with cards in the spokes and fishing rods across the handlebars. Apple trees are raided and sometimes cows are tipped. Night crawlers and lemonade can be bought at roadside stands and the Fourth of July parade is attended by all. I am told that people who come here usually come back here and some of them have been here since the beginning. You know who you are, thank you for reading.

My kids who have grown up in a computer world and think the Internet came with the house tell me a million hits is kind of a deal. They also tell me I should try and figure out how many stories I have written and how many words I have put out there. I think it is just a plan on their part to distract me. For the most part writing about my Lake Iwanttobethere is easy, sometimes I have to work at it though. The best part is logging on a finding out that people are reading it and the occasional message letting me know someone is out there. I have a feeling with the Resort there may be a few more stories to be told. As always all of my stories have a little of the truth in them, you just need to figure what it is, Bobby {1,000,007}

Bobby Bass · March 13, 2013

A sunny day out but not as warm as it looks like it should be. I see the bass thermometer has the red needle right at thirty and there is some water dripping from the eves. The sun is strong enough to heat up the shingles on the cabin roof and melt some snow at least. Good news for fishermen today as it looks like there is a buyer for the Hostess Co. and Twinkies will once again be found on the shelf's and of course back in the bottom of my brown paper bag lunches. I feel a little sorry for everyone who went out and bought the last ones off the shelf and now have to try and sell them or eat them or just save them.

Later today I promised Hammering Hank I would make a dump run with him. One place that I much rather go to in the winter then in the dead of summer. Although now that they have the composting site along side the dump that can be a very aromatic place when they turn the piles. Not much outside work going on at the Resort all the wet heavy snow that fell has now settled into rock hard snow. Shovels don't make a dent in it and I can think of other things to do then stand hacking away at the snow with an ice chipper. Duncan came with me to the Resort yesterday and no sooner did I let him out of the Tahoe then he spotted the last upright snowman and made a dash for it. When he was close enough he jumped for the head expecting to go right through it but instead bounced off the frozen snow. He walked back over and sniffed the frozen snowman before lifting a leg and then moving on.

I was at the Resort to pick up the carpet cleaned and return it to the Lodge. A few rugs were done upstairs and I had to get it back before Gus missed it. Back at the Lodge the cleaner went back to the storage room and I headed for the bar. I rewarded myself with a cold draft Hamms and worked the room some. Not a lot going on, Fellows were sitting at the big round table but nothing was being planned, they were mostly just showing off scars from past adventures. Vic has not been at the Lodge much since he has moved back to the Resort. Come to think of it Marv and Elmer have been at the Resort more then at the Lodge to. Might be why the TV was off as no one else much watches any of the day time soap operas.

We are only a week away from the official start of Spring so that is good. Hard to tell this year with all the late snow we have been receiving. Guys with plows have been seen smiling again, has been a tough past few winters for them. Car wash is busy, funny how after all of that clean snow falls how dirty the cars and trucks get afterwards. Trailers with snow machines are once again a common sight along Main Street as are cars with ski racks on their tops. Middle of the Block Diner along with the Sunshine Cafe and the Dew Drop Inn are all doing brisk business. With Spring here soon I wonder how long it will be before the Chicken Shack opens for business.

Reed the Realtors travel office is also a busy place with tax returns being files and also tax refunds starting to show up. Gus told me just yesterday that he had three bar tabs paid off in full and one even paid a little extra on his. Might just be another sign of Spring if you ask me, from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,002,240}

Punkinseed 1940 Heddon Co. The 740 series Punkinseeds were in production from 1940 until 1943, all being 2 1/2 inches long and weighing roughly 3/5 oz. Made of wood they bear a resemblence to a sunfish or pumpkinseed in shape. [img:center]

Bobby Bass · March 14, 2013

With spring less then a week away on the calendar I thought this morning I would go on a tour of our little bay here at the Resort. I have fished the bay a few times but never really gotten a good look at it. Marv had just taken some Kaiser rolls out of the oven and had them cooling on the big kitchen table. My nose brought me to the kitchen and I grabbed fixings from the fridge and quickly built myself a sandwich. I rearranged the Kaiser rolls to hide the one I took just in case Marv was counting. With the sandwich warm in my pocket I grabbed a bottle of water and put that in the pocket on the other side. I had already changed into my boots and I made my way out the back door where I put on my skinny skies and grabbed my ski poles and set off.

There is no mistaking my skiing as skiing it is more like walking with skinny sticks and poles to keep me from falling. With the hard snow I did not have to worry about sinking into the snow and I set off heading to the lake. I was figuring there were not going to be to many days before the ice started to get weak and today was as good as any to go exploring. I made it from the shoreline to the snow covered ice and started my way around the small bay that the Resort calls home. I made my way down the shoreline inspecting down trees and brush that was growing up close to where the bank would be. Was quiet out with the only real noise being me breathing hard and my heart beating when a deer jumped up from some deep grass along the shore. We both stood there and looked at each other before I told her to move on, nothing here to see.

I let my heart slow some and leaned on my poles and just looked around for awhile. I continued on my way following the turn of the bay as it took me South. Cattails along this section and I pressed in a little ways, might be a creek here but hard to tell with all the snow. On the South shore I headed East till I was blocked by the island that is directly across from the Resort. Vic told me that Eagles would nest on the small island and as I looked around I could see a nest as big as a small bed high in a tree. I made my way onshore and looking back out over the little bay I could see why the eagles nested here, quite the view.

Finding a down tree that reached out to disappear into the frozen water I decide to sit a spell. I got the water out and took a good drink before setting it down on the snow covered trunk of the tree. The warm sandwich had long ago cooled but it still felt soft in my hands when I took the wax paper wrapping off it. There is something about a bologna sandwich in the woods that just can't be beat. Of course I made my sandwich the way I like them not how the wife does. A nice fresh Kaiser roll with real Mayo on both sides. A slice of cheese, four big sweet pickle slices and a very healthy deli cut of bologna from Ma and Pa's Grocery Store. A little yellow mustard and it was not too much later and I was licking my fingers of the mustard Mayo mix and thinking I should have made two. Another couple of sips of water and I was ready to follow the rest of the shore back to the Resort.

Good way to kill a few hours and now I have an idea of the shoreline. I used the back door to get into the Club House and put my skis up in my room. When I got back to the main room Marv was reading the paper and he looked up over the top of it, "HIYA" he said. "Made some fresh Kaiser rolls if you are interested" I just smiled, from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,003,597}

Dive Bomber 1942 the dot dot dot dash is morse code for Victory painted on the lure

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leechlake · March 15, 2013

Congrats on 1,000,000!!! I was out of town and missed it. Don't stop though it's just a number like your birthday, of course keeping track of it in months.

Bobby Bass · March 16, 2013

I was at the Lodge last night and I was making the rounds when Gary one of the Fellows asked if I had any tackle catalogs laying around. I told him of course and took him back to the office where there were several sitting on my desk. He grabbed a half dozen of them and headed back to the round table where the rest of the Fellows were sitting sipping on beer and looking a little excited, which means something was up. I sat down next to Gary as he spread the catalogs around to the guys. "So what's up?" I asked. Tiny who was already intently looking into a rod catalog looked up over the top of the catalog to just say "Telephone book season" Well there was my answer right there. Every year about this time the Fellows hook up with the local telephone company and deliver the new telephone books to residents and business owners around the lake. The pay is not much per book but when you have the market cornered like they do it adds up. Usually they make enough money to pay their bar tab and it looks like this year there will be some left over for fishing equipment.

Steve came back from the bar with another pitcher of beer and a yellow legal pad, He tore some of the pages out of the pad and pushed then across the table to the other Fellows. Pencils were removed from behind ears and the guys started to jot down things from the catalog on their wish lists. I sipped on my beer and watched them turn pages and answered a question from time to time as I think I have the catalogs memorized. I noticed that Tiny's list was getting almost to the bottom of the page and I engaged him in conversation. Actually I simply said "Where are you going to get all the money for that stuff?" Not looking up Tiny said that "We have a side job that we can do at the same time as the telephone books." A n d d d I dragged out the word. Gary looked up and said "We are going to count feet for the mayor"

I lean back in my chair and acted like that made perfect sense to me and took another sip from my beer. Looking up I saw Gus wiping a beer mug with a towel with a grin on his face looking at me. I excused myself from the table and made my way to a stool at the bar. Gus leaning now against the back bar said "They told you of the money making opportunity eh?" Shaking my head I replied "Yes, they did but I don't have a clue what they are talking about. Gus picked up another mug and started to wipe it with the towel said "My understanding is the Mayor in his wisdom has decided that since you had a new sign put up at the entrance to Lake Iwanttobethere that the town should update our population sign. Now we all know the more people you have living in your town the more aid you can get so the Mayor came up with this idea to count feet instead of people and we will put that on the entrance sign with a small notation it is feet not people.

I sat on the stool with my beer in front of me and asked Gus why the mayor just didn't double what was on the old population sign. Gus told me that question was brought up to the Mayor and he replied they didn't want to miss out on the big city folks who have moved to the lake and their 2.5 families. We just looked at each other and nodded, from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,006,540}

South Bend Two Oreno lure. Made from 1937-1942

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Bobby Bass · March 17, 2013

Happy Saint Patty's Day, if ya stay inside the cabin it is kind of nice out but I am down at the Lodge today, working. Ice shanties need to be off the ice and the Lodge is kind of a busy place as guys are coming in and out warming up and telling stories off getting their houses off. Friday night we had a blast of snow from out of no where and another six inches of snow fell. Don't get me wrong I like the snow but it is the middle of March and we should start seeing some brown dirt this time of year. I happen to look at the big garden at the cabin yesterday and there is at least two feet of snow covering everything. Sunshine Ray is forecasting another six inches of snow for tomorrow night but some are saying it could be more then that. The only real happy people in town are the snow plow drivers as this winter is going out with a bang.

Yesterday afternoon my son and I were sent to my room by the wife. I didn't think it was a big deal but me and the son got caught doing something that we are not supposed to be doing. With that ice dam still sitting on the cabin roof and another six inches of fresh snow we figured it was time to get out the snow rake and pull the snow down. I soon discovered that pulling snow is hard work on my shoulder and the son took over. Of course it did not take but a few passes and he lost the rolling cover that keeps the bottom of the snow rake off the shingles. So our new idea was to get out the big ladder and lay it down on the South roof and send the son up with a shovel.

Well that worked pretty good till the son lost his balance and fell on the roof, sliding down spread eagle but taking a large swath of snow down with him. He landed on the deck but with all the snow from the roof falling before him he said it was like landing on a pillow. He was quickly back up the ladder and he did it again, Two more passes and about a third of the snow on that side of the roof had been removed. We might have gotten away with it but the wife was doing dishes and she saw her son fall pass the window and her mother instincts over came her and she quickly rushed to his aid. Of course by the time she made it out the door and on to the deck the son was already climbing back up the ladder and was just stepping off on to the roof. The wife saw him and started yelling at him to get off the roof. The son tried to retreat and get back on the ladder when he lost his balance and fell on the roof, this time on an area he had already cleared. He did not fall well as he kind of crashed onto the deck and was a little slower getting up as his mother watched.

We might have got away with it but my two grandsons coming around the side of the cabin took that moment to tell their dad, my son that they had the front porch roof cleared and he needs to move the ladder so they can start working on the garage. The wife quickly put two and two together and asked the grandsons if they are sliding down the roof. They bent under the pressure and said yes and the wife told them that will be enough of that, The boys pointed at their dad and said "But Dad and Grandpa did it first" the wife looked at me and said " You slid down the roof?" I mumbled something and finally just pointed at my son and said "He made me do it" A few minutes later my son and I found ourselves in my den looking at the lake through the window while the wife was making hot cocoa for her grandsons and feeding them peanut butter cookies. I just looked at the son and said "You know we still have to get all that snow off the boat house" from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,008,824}

Dowagic Minnow #100 1917- Vintage Heddon lure.

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Bobby Bass · March 18, 2013

By nightfall all the ice houses were off the lake and the Lodge was pretty quiet. Not empty mind you just kind of quiet. Moving snow and wrestling with jacks and planks and chains has that effect on a guy after an afternoon of being on the ice. A few houses litter the access area needing some repairs before they can be taken any farther while others sit in the parking lot here at the Lodge waiting for owners to take them home. I think some wife's were told that their husbands were having trouble on the ice but the calls were made here from the Lodge. We had a pretty good day selling green beer and when it was gone we were still selling beer.

I had a supper of some deep fried shrimp and some fries and as I was dipping the shrimp in our own Lodges home made tartar sauce it got me thinking about my youth and how me and Chuck in one of our first joint business ventures brought a load of shrimp from down south to Lake Iwanttobethere. It also reminded me of the time when we took sweet corn from the lake to Iowa to sell only to find out they already have a lot of corn in Iowa. Trying to bring corn into Canada didn't work much better as we learned about custom laws, but those are a couple of stories for another day.

I don't remember how we came up with the idea, I think it was Chuck's that we could go down south and buy shrimp right off the boat and bring it back to the lake to sell. More I think of it I think it was all Chuck's idea and I was just along for the ride, at least that is how I am going to tell it. We borrowed Chuck's uncle's orange VW mini bus and covered the windows all up in Reynolds wrap. Later we found out that Reynolds wrap has two sides to it, one to keep the heat in and one to keep the cold out or the other way around, either way we did it wrong. We drove down to Louisiana because that is where our shrimp that we bought up here said they were from. Not the shrimp themselves, the boxes they came in. Anyway we got some directions from one of the locals who we had a real hard time understanding, thinking back he might not have heard exactly what we were saying either.

We found a dock where they were off loading freshly caught shrimp and through some fancy negotiation we got a load of shrimp and ice at a very good price. Now since the VW mini bus had a skylight we just open that up and used it like a hatch. The guy at the dock told us that they do it that way all the time. They shoveled some ice on a big tub of shrimp and lifted it with a crane. We moved out of the way as they dumped the ice and shrimp down the hatch and shovel in some more ice on top.

We paid the man who as I remember had a pretty big smile on his face as we drove away. The VW was sitting pretty low on the springs but we figured as we headed north the ice would melt some and the load would get lighter. As we drove north we made several stops along the way. We seemed to be going through a lot of gas so when we stopped we found out that we could barter shrimp for gas and of course some snacks.

We did get stopped by a trooper in Missouri wanting to know about the water dripping from the back of the van but he was happy when we offered him a few shrimp. Seeing that the ice was melting faster then we thought we now had to trade shrimp for ice on the rest of the way back home. After the nonstop trip we arrived back at Lake Iwanttobethere and parked in the Lodges parking lot and put up our sign. FRESH SHRIMP and in a few minutes we had a line of Lodge members lining up in the sun looking for shrimp. Moving ice we started picking through filling orders but we were soon finding more ice then shrimp. Scratching our heads we thought we would be finding a mound of shrimp under all the ice but they were become few and far between.

Big Earl's dad happen along and asked about buying a box of shrimp from us, we told him we only had loose shrimp and he said I bet them boys told you how great a deal you were getting buying loose shrimp fresh of the boat not boxed ones right? We nodded yes, I think you boys bought a lot of ice. Like I said in the beginning it was Chuck's idea. As a footnote a couple of days later we were at Chuck's uncle's cleaning the VW mini van. Seems that some of the shrimp had washed under the seats and into the wheel wells, guess we should have also took the Reynolds wrap off the windows as it was the wrong side facing out, was a little ripe in there if I remember right, from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,011,928}

Bobby Bass · March 19, 2013

Shoving snow is like pulling weeds, a few days later you are doing it again. Yesterday morning we got a little burst of snow, that is what the weathermen calls it when it snows and they didn't see it coming, kind of like a sucker punch. Seven more inches of snow fell to add to the six inches we just got to add on top of the seven inches of heavy snow that fell before that. Now this morning finds us waking up to snow drifts from the strong overnight winds. I have already shovel the deck off three times and the path to the trucks four. I made one trip out to the greenhouse but when I removed the snow there was ice covering the walkway. Buddy running down the path I had just shoveled hit the ice and his legs went out from under him. He slid into the snow bank and had a foul look on his face as he stared at me and slowly got back up. I walked over and patted him softly on the side and talked to him asking if he was OK.

I knocked snow back down to cover the ice so the dogs would not fall again and worked my way to the Tahoe shoveling the path once again as I went. No clouds in the sky and sunny but the red needle on the bass thermometer is having a hard time getting past twenty. I took the broom and brushed off the snow that had stacked itself on top of the truck and cleared the windows. That done I looked at the Dodge buried and just mumbled something to myself about tomorrow is another day. I made my way to the greenhouse with Buddy, Barney and Duncan following in my footsteps. Moved snow from in front of the door and the four of us went inside. No wind and a lot warmer, I sat down on a bench and the dogs spread out, noses to the dirt floor sniffing.

Been a strange winter, started of pretty decent but this last month is sure making up for it. Lots of snow and staying cold, it is like Mother Nature is going out of her way to prevent cabin fever this year. Middle of March I should be thinking about cleaning up the greenhouse and maybe putting some heat in here and get some plants started. Instead I am looking out at swirling snow and the big garden has at least three feet of snow covering everything. Sidewalks are looking more like trenches and I can't even see Elmers porch, it is blocked from view by a mountain of snow created by the tractor. The cabin roof that we just cleared of snow, well it is buried again.

I let the dogs back out of the greenhouse and they followed me back to the cabin. They headed to the living room to lay in front of the fire and lick snow from their paws. I grabbed the Tahoe keys and made my way out to the truck and into town. First stop was the General Store and no Big Earl at the door. I entered and before I could say HIYA Barb the cashier looked up and said "Out of Rock Salt, out of Ice Melt and Earl is checking the warehouse for shovels" I gave her a wave and walked back out the door.

I was about to cross Main Street when I heard the grader coming, I waited and sure enough Frank the plow driver appeared making the turn from Bait Avenue. The blade was up and Frank gave me a way as he passed by. I did notice something different about the grader though. He had a fishing rod hanging off the side of the cab and I could see a little line blowing in the breeze behind him. If I didn't know better I would say it looked like he was trolling. He really needs to go fishing here soon, from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,016,416}

Water Scout 1938 made by Clark's Lure Co.

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Bobby Bass · March 20, 2013

First day of Spring today and I should be writing about melting snow and robins and tulips but that is not happening, at least not here at Lake Iwanttobethere. I think I am still cold from snow blowing yesterday. I waiting till the sun got up high overhead and went out to take back some of my parking spaces from winter. Number two grandson was having a party here at the cabin to celebrate his seventh birthday and we needed some more parking. It was a good thing I had finally gone to the Gas-N-Gulp for gas as I went through the tank I had in the snow blower. Never is fun to blow snow when the wind is blowing strongly and the occasional gust that blows in the opposite direction catches you. Took but a few minutes till my beard was full of snow and melting snow slipped down my shirt. I had to stop and regroup, pulling the hood up and tugged the draw strings tighter. I worked with the wind and cleared off enough room for parking and made just a single pass to put the blower back in the shop. I was going to knock banks down but I was already chilled to the bone and decided to call it a day.

Went into the cabin to take of my sorrels and pull the coveralls off, I tossed them on a kitchen chair to dry and headed for the living room. I sat down on the couch after throwing a few extra sticks on the fire. Duncan jumped up and sat on one side of me while I had to coax Barney over to make room for myself to sit. Ten minutes later and I still was not warm. The wife was yelling at me from the kitchen, something about cleaning up my mess. I got up from the couch and headed in that direction, no sooner had I left then Duncan was curled up in my spot. Wife was mopping up the floor where my coveralls had been, guess I might have brought a little snow in with me. I got a little shiver so I headed to the shower and hot water.

An hour later and I was sipping on cider with the warm mug between my hands, still cold. Wife looked at me and gave me the five year old kid sick test. You know, looked me the eyes checking them like I was a horse. Back of her hand on my forehead to see if I was warm and then she proceeded to kneed the glands on the side of my neck and announced "I hope you are not getting a cold" and walked away. I stood waiting for something else and she did say "Maybe you should take something" I was thinking some brandy might go good with the cider when she broke my thought up with "Did you remember to get ice cream?"

Twenty minutes later in a slowly warming Tahoe I was on my way to Ma and Pa's Grocery to pick up ice cream that the wife had forgotten to get but somehow had made it become my job. Still had the chills and the thought of ice cream was not making me any warmer. As I drove into town I was thinking to myself there is one place that is guaranteed to be warm this time of year, or any time for that matter. I was almost to Ma and Pa's when I made a turn down a seldom travel side street to park at the Lake Iwanttobethere steam plant.

The steam plant was one of the founding father's ideas and it as the name suggest makes steam. It used to power the wood plant but now it just mostly still heats the buildings and shops along Main Street where the main line is still live. I drove down pass the wood pile and saw it was a little down. I went through the gate and parked in the visitors parking spot and walked in. Warm heat blasted at me and I followed the yellow stripe on the floor to the control room where my Lodge buddy Raylen sat feet up on the control panel sipping coffee.

When you sit for a spell around the biggest pot belly stove in the county it does not take long to either warm up or find out you really are sick. I poured myself a cup of coffee from a pot that was resting on top of a steam pipe and took a small sip of the black tar Raylen calls coffee. Bout twenty minutes later and the chills were gone and I needed to move on. I thanked Raylen for the coffee and the conversation and got back in the Tahoe which I noticed was clean of ice and snow. Always a lot warmer around the steam plant and snow just never seems to last long on the ground around it, from Lake Iwanttobethere {1,018,114}

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