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Pancake Lake Fishing Trip
2.28.12

The MMO recently embarked on our annual fishing trip to Pancake Lake, located in the bustling town of Wawina, MN. Last year unfortunately we were unable to go due to scheduling reasons. That only created more interest and appeal to go this year. This year there were 8 MMO participants all arriving at different days and times. Doug recently upgraded from his previous truck to a newer BIGGER BETTER "BADDER" DIESEL Chevy 2500 HD. We (Coleman and Adam) had the privilege to ride up in Doug's new rig Thursday evening after work. We arrived at the Sayer shack around 10:30PM. It was a mild temperature inside. While Adam and Doug unloaded the truck I lit the stove and cracked open a Milwaukee's Special Reserve Light and enjoyed the smooth long lasting taste of a 15$ a cube case beer. We played cards told jokes while the shack warmed up.

The following morning we woke up to a breakfast of fresh pastries, known as Mickey's Donuts and cut some firewood. While we were stacking up the new wood Doug starting making some delicious Bloody Marys (Doug used his new Titos Vodka along with Ms. T's mix, salami, Munster cheese, pickles, and celery on a skewer). By the time we finished stacking wood and enjoying the bloodys…the next members of MMO crew arrived. Jonathan was driving his new Saturn (baby blue) with passengers Mark and Mikey. They were packed to the gills with food, gear, supplies, and barley pop. We helped them unpack and we started talking fishing spots! It was a cloudy day but the temps were in the high 20's with average winds 5-10 mph. to continue reading click here

~Coleman

Doug's top moments of Pancake Fishing Trip

• Bloodys - man these were delicious. To those who didn't get any, you missed out ;) (Titos ftw)
• Getting the band back together - Colemans hand flute instrumental will be talked about for many many years to come
• Slappin the bag - CFOlson's new favorite party drink. Also next year we need more Pepe
• Meeting the man, Sayer, in the flesh. What a cool cat.
  
  

  Click images below for pictures of the trip

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Turkey Talk
5.2.11

The time of year started out like any other, an application for the state of MN turkey season. This year was a little different than previous years, because it looked as though I would actually be trying my luck. My buddy Jay had offered to take me on a secret property not far from the metro that had never been hunted with a gun. I was very much looking forward to it, since the last time I went turkey hunting I spent my time on a chunk of public land that didn't have a turkey within 5 miles. As time got closer a hinge came up, Jay had a trip to Missouri planned and my draw date was his only option. Being the selfish guy I am I was a little excited when he called and told me that the trip was planned due to complications with shoulder surgery, (thanks Jay!)

So it was set that we would go out on Friday morning of my season, thanks to a late notice day off of work. It was, according to the weather, going to be the nicest day in a week with sunny and clear. Jay headed out a couple nights before to listen for the birds, but did not hear anything. So a little disheartened I packed up my all my stuff for a long day sit in a ground blind waiting for a bird to close the distance enough to get a shot with a bow. Adding in my shotgun in case we switched gears at any point.

We met at a gas station at 5 am on Friday morning, got some coffee and Jay's energy boosting tourine drink, and headed out to the famed turkey spot. We unpacked our stuff and tried to hurry out to the field we were going to set up on, a little later than hoped. It was light enough to see, so we hugged the tree line to avoid being sky lined by any birds that may have roosted in the surrounding trees. We got to the far edge of the field where the action was going to happen and started to set up shop. I put a couple decoys out about 6 yards from the blind, and got all my stuff in the blind. Just as Jay shut the blind over us a turkey sounded off about 200 yards behind us in the timber.

After a couple seconds another gobble, and then another. Jay pinpointed their location and said they were on the other side of a swamp and thought we needed to move on them to get an opportunity. I was all game for the move, so we left all of our stuff except the shot gun and calls, and headed out to find the roosting noise makers. We got to the edge of the swamp about 75 yards later, and heard a gobble right on the other side. Not wanting to be seen crossing where we were, we back tracked and got across the marsh further away from the birds. After we had crossed we made our way slowly towards the vocal birds. We snuck through dead falls and around old burned trees and set up on the down slope of a little knoll that separated us from the turkeys.

Jay sat to my right about 15 feet and got his call ready, while I readied my gun and settled in. The woods were coming alive with gobbles and birds, along with many pairs of wood ducks flying through the large oak trees looking for places to nest. After sitting for about 2 minutes, a train sounded in the distance, and I looked at Jay as he motioned that the birds were flying off the roost, just 60 yards away. From my location I could not see due to brush piled up about 40 yards in front of me, perfectly concealing the birds from me, and vise versa. Not long after flying down, Jay hit the call with a low chirp, and instantly got a gobble back, and then another. In all there were 3 or 4 Toms and a Jake or two thrown in the gobbling bunch responding to the call. At one 30 second point of Jay's calling, the birds gobbled straight through. It was truly amazing to listen to the birds as I had never heard that in that way before.

After five minutes of waiting and listening, I caught a glimpse of a blue and white head in between some branches in front of me, and then it was gone. As soon as it reappeared I got a great look at a big tom's fanned tail and big head. It was coming closer, and already at 40 yards. It crested the small rise and cleared away from the brush in between us, and gave a wonderful show of spring fever. The tom's fan was beautiful and full, one to definitely write home about. It would strut, and turn then mellow and do it all again. I had never seen a bird do that at 35 yards, let alone with a gun in hand. We watched as it did its magic dance looking for the longing call of Jay's box call. At one point the bird looked right at me and gobbled. I jumped so much I thought I was going to scar the bird off. The bird was at my 10 o'clock, and gave me no option to swing the gun on him without scaring him. So as I waited for the moment to present when I either had to move, or he came towards my shooting line my heart pounded with adrenaline.

After what seemed like minutes, but was really seconds the bird moved to his left and came on a slow walk right in front of my barrel. A quick alignment of the sights and firing pin met primer. The bird flopped around on the ground, and was officially my first turkey. Jay came over to me and congratulated me on the shot. He told me there was a bunch more behind the brush, and a deer also got up between us and the rest of the flock when I shot. He also told me that it was 6:01am, just a half hour from the time we got to the set up in the field! We sat there for a bit replaying the ordeal and looking at the turkey close up. After carrying him out to the blind, all 100 yards of it, we took pictures and gathered our belongings.

We packed up and headed to my parents to show my folks my prize. It was a great experience, and as my dad and jay both said, a lucky one at that. My first bird was taken within a half hour of my first real hunt, and a big bird it was. It weighed 24.3 pounds, had a 10 inch beard along with inch long spurs. Both Jay and my dad said that bird will be near impossible to beat, but let me tell you, I will be trying my hardest every year! I am instantly addicted to it. There is nothing like hearing the bird gobble the whole way in. It is truly a sport of its own, and one I am bummed I missed so many years of. Also, thankful that I got the opportunity to do this with a good friend, and wonderful guide who is batting 1000 this season on guiding turkeys for friends and family! Thanks again Jay.

~Pumper

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Grousin' with Cole
11.5.10

Well here's a small update on some MMO hunting. I came back to Minneapolis the last week of Oct. and had the opportunity to go Grouse hunting with my former roommate Andrew Gunderson ("Gundy" "Gunderstruck"). We set out early to the Mille Lacs National Wildlife Refuge. Both of us have hunted here about a dozen times and have had success in the past. The past three days were extremely windy and rainy and both of us hoped it make the birds come out and feed during the calm weather finally. We had one flush while we were walking in but it was roughly 50 yards ahead of us and we decided not to track it and head further north.

Gundy brought his puppy "Morgan" with us who is only a year and a half and has not been hunting more than a handful of times. She did fairly well by staying close and not running a head of us. She mainly ran between Gundy and I which worked out wonderful. The only bird we nailed was in thick people on top of some high ground. It flushed 20 yards ahead of me and I watched it set its wings and land. I had a good line and called for Gundy to come over. Gundy was coming towards me and I knew the general area it was in. He kept coming closer and closer and I started to doubt myself that the bird was 15 yards ahead me of. Finally Morgan came storming through and flushed the bird! It took off high and to my right. I shot once and missed but quickly reloaded another shell and I knocked it down. It was still alive when Morgan retrieved it to Gundy. Both of us smiled and were having a blast!

Shortly there after I flushed a Wood cock and knocked it down immediately with one shot. It only flushed about 10 ft in the air. The remaining grouse we flushed were located on the edge of hardwoods and a swamp. It was extremely thick and we flushed about six more but were unable to drop them. The hunt slowed down after leaving the river/swamp area and we only flushed one other on our way back to the truck. The whole day was we enjoyed incredible weather. It was sunny skies and almost no wind. There was ice on the small swamps we past. When we entered the woods the temperature was in the high 20's and when we got to the truck it raised to mid to upper 40's. All and all it was a complete success. I got to break in my New Danner Pronghorn hunting boots. They did WONDERUL! I will have a review us these boots coming soon.

~Cole

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Dave's Jersey Trip!
08.11.10

Back home at my Grandma's and just got a couple pics on the puter box. We had a tough time finding them today in the back bay. We came up with a couple sea robins. We worked all of my favorite holes and channels, but just couldn't seem to find them. I thought we should try our luck for some blues out by Champaigne Island, but none could be found. So, we decided to do a couple drifts near 'the church'. First drift and I hooked up with a hog! Took a little bit to get it off the bottom, but luckily I LA Fitness myself every morning and muscled him in. A beatiful 20.5 inch flounder! WAHOO! My Grandma and I continued to fish the same area and hooked up with many more flounder, but all of them shorts. She had a nice 17.5 incher at one point, however, all flounder below 18 inches need to be released. We headed in around 6pm tonight, and talked about where we're going tomorrow! Same spot! Hopefully we can pull a couple more delicious flat fish tomorrow so we can have a nice fish fry!

Oh yeah...And writing code in wordpad is not as fun as Dreamweaver...

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Crommie work weekend
07.24.10

Just got back from a crommie work weekend/Dave's bday weekend. Boy was it a treat. Us manly men of great brawn and might did some major tongue 'n groove this weekend, finished the whole cieling, and of the peak walls. All thats left is the other peak wall, as far as tongue 'n groove goes. Also, couple a Buck's people came and installed the stairs, finally the 'stairway to heaven' is back.

Highlights of the weekend:

Dave's birthday night at the muni [sadly, Killa and I missed out on this]

Driving golf balls off into the horizon

Doug's cooler water soaked sausage mcmuffin breakfast that miraculously turned out not terrible

Muni again on Saturday night [shout out to Leslie for shootin water moccasins with Dave... this night had some 'dark periods'

TAPATIO!

Pics from the weekend are here:

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Pumper sturgeon update!
07.19.10

The trip started April of last year as we drove home from Rainy river sturgeon excursion 2009. We were planning the next year and the monstrous fish that would battle our wits and lines. The twelve of us, or so it started out would be going one week before the opening of the 2010 sturgeon season to catch the prehistoric creatures that congregated every spring to spawn. As the trip edged closer, lives became entangled with plans, and the group dwindled down to three. Mikey Moon, Dave, and I were the sole surviving group for sturgeon 2010.

The trip started on Friday April 16th at roughly 6:30 a.m. We started from my home town of Plymouth and traveled North on 169 through my home town of Grand Rapids. There were a few stops along the way for food, gas, and bait but we did manage to make it to Baudette by 1:30 p.m. We checked into to our little fort and got unpacked before unloading the boat and getting to the water where the monsters roamed.

Pumper's story continues here....

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Whickey Update!
11.16.09

I left work at 11:45 on Thursday and was in the stand by the shack by 2:10. At 2:45 I heard what I thought were a couple of grunts (never heard before) to the NW about 30 yards back in the woods. It continued single grunts as it headed S towards the shack. It came across the grassy swale to the W of the stand on the move and got behind some thick shit before I could shoot. I did scope it and knew it was a buck. There was a grunt call on the seat so I faced the deers direction and grunted 3 times. About 30 seconds later I saw him coming towards me and picked a spot to shoot…BAMM…the deer did a 180 and was back in the thick shit. WTF I'm thinking, "what just happened? No deer, no sound NOTHING." About a minute later it came right at me again EXACTLY like the first time so I pulled up and BAM again. This time I heard him scramble hard and then silence. I waited just a little bit, got down and started looking for blood. No blood but I could smell that F'r big time. I found no blood so started looking in the direction I thought I heard it the last time and about 30 yards away…dead deer! I was fired up.

Next morning I was in the stand again to get a better read on where I shot, where the deer was standing etc. and had it dialed in big time. I got down about 10 and looked at the "spot" and it was 20 yards N of where I had been looking the night before. Sure as shit, you can see where my first shot had hit a maple stick that was a leaner. It was cool to put it all together. For reference, the "hit" stick is still out there! I drug the deer 30 yards, gutted it and drug it another 20 yrds to the trail. If you remember the wood lean to ladder stand the old party used, it all happened 20 yards towards the shack from there. It was all so cool and crazy. That buck never knew where I was at therefore he gave me a second chance..or I like to think that way!!!

Toots missed/nicked a 6 pointer Saturday that was 15 yards N of where I shot this one. We never found anything but 3 specks of blood. Snow would have helped but I think he missed!

~Whickey

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MMO CREW - TRUE OUTDOORSMEN!
11.12.09

Received our first fan mail on October 23rd! The owner of Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub thinks we are "True Outdoorsman", and wishes he could get out and do the things we do, and experience what we do, and have a fun website to share with our friends and family! Thank you, owner of Tom Reid's! What a gentleman! AND! Way to go MMO Crew for showing all our fans how we do it!

Just kidding! He thinks we are "False Outdoorsman", and we "should get real outdoorsmen on our website". So my dearest, newest, fan. I raise my middle finger to you, and wish you many, many, many, many, epic fails, to come. Have fun figure skating.

~Dave

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Hunting Season 2009, revisited mid-season
11.12.09

Hi there, fellow outdoorsman, and MMO fanatics! This update is going to fly at you like water from an unkinked hose. So tred lightly, read carefully, and make sure you soak in the very last paragraph of this update. As you read down the post, you will notice I'm starting right after our last update (because Doug deleted it last time!), and will be working towards the present!

So, the day after duck opener went pretty well. Mikey Moon, his dad, Aune, and me, all headed out to the WMA I hunted in Litchfield with my dad. I had it all scouted out and we were excited to shoot some ducks. Mike and his dad set up on the big pond, while Mark and I did the death march with decoys and inflatable kayak in tow, and set up on the small pond. Mark and I set out decoys in a small pocket on the pond as it was overgrown with grass. We heard a couple ducks quacking in the dark, and we were VERY excited for shooting time to begin. About 5 minutes before shooting time, the pond absolutely exploded with teal. You know those movies where the stupid city slickers are stuck in a cave and one of them sneezes and then all of a sudden they are surrounded by bats? Well yeah, thats pretty much what Mark and I had with teal. I am not kidding, there were a couple where we could have stuck our guns up in the air and hit them! There had to have been 500-600 teal that got up and left! Very cool sight to witness. As the morning got lighter, Mark got a nice blue wing in the decoys, and soon after, he had an immature drake woodie. About 45 minutes after sunrise, I got a blue wing in the decoys, and that happened to be our last duck of the morning. The mallards just were not flying as well as they did the day before. At about 10:30, we met up with Mike and his dad, and found out they had shot a hen mallard, a hen blue wing, and two hen mergansers. Not an incredible day, but fun nonetheless!

Okay, so that took care of the day after opener. All those ducks were consumed in a nice big pot of chili!

Next update is actually a double update. It is a blend of weekend that I do not so much remember as we drank countless MSRs and Colorado Bulldogs. Doug would say its the perfect equation for passing out with your eyes open and having your friends put BBQ sauce on your nipples and laugh and take pictures of the dogs licking it off, and eating cheetos out of your mouth. But thats another story, that I hope Doug updates you with :-). The two middle weekends of October, we managed to get up to Cromwell for some bow hunting, and duck hunting. The deer weren't moving much as it was the duckiest weather we have had this fall! So, I hung up my bow and headed to a local lake with Moonie. We were greated by a fast flying hen blue bill which I felled as she was streaking/swimming/lounging through our decoys. After my shot, we had LOTS of mallards get up off the lake behind us. I just asked Mike how many he thought, and he thinks close to 1,000. We saw about 500 fly over our heads, and we don't know how many went the opposite direction. Just know there were a lot, and you'll be fine. About 3 hours later, hardly any ducks returned except for one immature drake mallard. The mallard landed short of our decoys (we were set up for divers, so we had a line going out), and then swam up into our pocket. Mike and I both stood up and jumped it, and on my third shot I finally folded it! So sad it took me that long, but my shooting skills are in some SERIOUS need of tuning.

The following weekend, it was only me that headed up to Crommie. I was all gung-ho about bow hunting, however...mother nature thought it would be better if it was raining the entire time and blowing about 40 mph. So, I decided to go duck hunting with Uncle Buck. We set up our decoys near where I had seen all the ducks the prior weekend. While Buck was telling me a story of 'the good ole days', we hear the pitter patter of ducks getting up out of our decoys! We were so made! Buck took a pot-shot, but missed, and we weatched 4 mergansers wave to us on their way off the lake. Pretty sure one winked at me too...After that, we are sitting there, and I just happen to turn around and see about 25 mallards dump into a pocket in the grass. I decide I'm going to go jump them, so I get out of the blind and start walking over there. I get about 50 yards away from the canoe when I see a bald eagle swoop down at the ducks! They all get up and start flying right towards Buck. The buzzed over his head maybe 10 yards high, went right out in front of our decoys, turned around, and came in like they were little children at halloween coming to your front door. I see him sit up, and BOOM! Folds one...BOOM! Folds one...I'm thinking, EFF! I wish I was in the decoys! Then, I see this duck coming right at me, just right down the pipe, you couldn't ask for an easier shot and then BOOM! BUCK FOLDS IT! What a duck hog! Instead of shooting at the 22 ducks on the other side of him, he goes for the duck coming right at me...such a dissapointment. Oh well, it was pretty dang sweet watching him TRIPLE on mallards! Which are in my freezer by the way, so I need to eat them before they get the burn! That weekend, I also managed to walk the driveway for grouse. I saw one on the driveway about 100 yards away just sitting there, so I sent the dogs into the woods. As I got within about 50 yards, the dogs came out of the woods, and then all of a sudden it jumped up! So, I did what I do best, and I threw two shots of lead at it and hit it! About 60 yards away by the time I hit it! The dogs go crazy, they're running around like dogs in heat! They knew I shot, but didn't know what at. The grouse is flopping on the road (10-15 yards from where it got up), and the dogs have their jollies in a bunch where the bird was sitting. As I'm running down the road saying dead bird, dead bird, the dogs are going crazy not wanting to look up because they had the scent! The stupid grouse flops into the woods, and I when I get up there, I can't find it! So...I walk back to the dogs and drag one of them over there by the collar and get them to look for it. Buck's dog started digging in some roots of a tree, which I checked out, underneath it, and I couldn't find anything...all I felt were roots. I go into the woods to look further thinking she has a mouse or something, and when I come out, both dogs have dug the bird out of the roots and are just TEARING it apart! When I got to it, the head was gone, one of the legs was almost torn completely off, and oh yeah...there was a GIANT hole in the breast. Thanks dogs...

Just this past weekend, it was deer opener. Mike and I decided to city hunt, so we headed out to a lake we like to hunt thats close. We set up on a point and waited for the divers. None flew by except maybe 4 mergansers? We stayed out there for quite a while, and at about 10:30am a nice drake bufflehead buzzed by our decoys. It went in a back little bay, which I thought it landed in, but then all of a sudden, there is a silhoutte of a duck coming at us! It came right up the line, and as it tried to land, we started shooting! On my third shot (such a horrible pattern, I know), the bird started falling down and then Mike folded it. That wasn't the end of it, though! We chased that bird in and out and around our decoys for a couple minutes until we finall got it. Crazy diving ducks!

Here is a pic of the bufflehead we doubled-up on:

A couple of Pumper's family members were up at the deer shack for firearm opener. They didn't see too many deer, however they did manage to get some meat. Nothing special, though...just a 15 pointer! Pat's uncle called it in with pickled egg farts! Way to go Toots!

Here is a pic of the monster 15 pointer Toots shot:

Here is the update I hope everybody has had the patience for. All the garb up top is just rambling nonesense. This is what I REALLY wanted to get up here! Last Thursday, November 5th, at roughly 9:52am, some of the MMO crew became uncles! How you may ask? Welp, here is how it went down. About 9 months ago, Pat, forgot that his favorite hunting was deer hunting. He also forgot that the gestation period for two leggers is 9 months. He also forgot that if he keeps his willy in his pants, and ignores his wife's urgers...he would never have such a great and wonderful, healthy, screaming, crying, son, that he has today! MMO fans, please say hello to Pat and Jen's first born son! Mr. Daniel Thomas Kellin! Our newest MMO member!

That is only the tip of the iceburg, in terms of what has happened in these last couple weeks. We will be hunting more this fall, so please stay tuned! I hope you are happy you read through the entire update!

~Dave

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Duck Opener 2009
10.03.09

Dave here, just got back from my dad's and have a couple minutes to reflect on the day. At precisely 9:00am today, close to 100,000 duck hunters took to the field to kick off the 2009 waterfowl season. My dad and I set up for some pass shooting on a WPA in central Minnesota. We were greated by many fast flying mallards, woodies, and teal. The weather couldn't have been better! It was almost the perfect ducky day! We missed countless shots in the first hour of the season, but we soon redeemed ourselves by doubling up on a nice big hen mallard. Soon after we felled that bird, we were buzzed by two mallards. My dad smoked a nice immature drake, however it took us a couple minutes to find. Turns out the duck was not carrying any money on it, thats why it took me a little while to pick up on its scent. We left the field around halftime of the Gophers-Badgers football game and headed home. The two ducks have been cleaned, and are now waiting to be accompanied by some more waterfowl tomorrow! Hopefully we are successful, and I can relay a great report for you all!

~Dave

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Cabin build progress
09.29.09

Hey girls, Whickey here... spent a day and a half up at camp and it's coming together nicely. The roof is on and done and the South gable end is stained and done. Buck and I went to a big pit south of Iverson, where virgin agates live…and although people hit it hard, success was marginal. I like hitting the roads better although you do have a chance of finding a true big boy in the pit. I saw at least 15 woodcock both evenings flying through camp but whiffed again. Got my first "chicken" Sunday morning on my way out 50 yards down the driveway. I do believe that's the first camp bird! Saturday eve while watching the woodcock fly I heard a nice pack of wolves to the South of camp. It was very cool when they were making noise. They moved fairly quickly to the West and I could follow their howls until they went quiet after about 15 minutes. It's always nice to hear the wolves howl. Then I saw 2 awesome shooting stars while it was still kind of light out. One went NW to SE and the other went SE to NW, kind of at each other in a criss-cross. Both lasted about 15 seconds before disintegrating and it was really a primo sighting, almost as if they were going to collide. I feel fortunate to have seen this. Once the windows are in, shit will happen so I hope this is the week. It should be and Buck and I will keep you posted. The sauna still works great and I think we should extend the deck another 10 feet south to accommodate all of the asses! This cool morning brings promise that the true Fall is right around the corner and this is exciting. Everyone have a great week and see you all soon.

OK ladies, another update. The windows are supposed to go in this week. When the windows go in, the siding goes up. When the siding goes up, the stain goes on, twice. Then the guy has to spray the insulation on the inside of the entire shack, which also should happen this week. When the insulation gets sprayed, the tongue and groove go up. After the T&G goes up we, stain the inside (probably this fall but possibly after Fall). The kitchen will have to be put in and the fireplace needs to be set and the chimney hooked up. The cabinets are up there and need to be mounted in a strategic spot. When the builders are out of there, probably this week, we will have the dirt guy come in and final grade the landscape as well as dig us a shithouse hole and a grey water hole for our sink discharge. We will then move the shitter and place it. After placement we will draw straws to see who shits in it first! There will NOT be a ceiling above the open living area as we will have a loft above the bedrooms. A ladder system has to be devised to accommodate entry to heaven! We will also be seeding this Fall and covering with straw so we have green next Spring and NO dirt. Tracking of dirt is a constant issue right now although strategic areas have been engineered to create clean entrance into the shack. HINT, look at Bucks pictures. So that's kind of it right now, lot's to do but a good grip on things. There are grouse around, deer, moose and wolves also. Let's put it all together and have some fun!

- Whickey

Update: Some more pics of camp with roof on looking gorgeous.

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Season opener update
09.23.09

GROUSE and BOW HUNTING SEASON STARTED! This past weekend (9-18-20) was yet another fun filled adventure with some good friends up North. It has been an extremely warm September so far with temperatures in the high 70's and low 80's with low humidity, sunny skies, and light winds. I (coleman) left the cities around 1ish on Friday afternoon due to my extremely flexible schedule and arrived in Cromwell at 3:30. I noticed immediately the trusses, plywood, and tarpaper all installed. The Tyson Warner crew was finishing the day up by installing Pine siding on the north end of the cabin. I saw buck walk around the corner with a big grin on his face and he showed me what he was working on all morning. Buck built a woodshed attached to the Sauna on the East end. He used 4 Cider posts which were left over from the decorative deck posts. I was impressed. Soon Grant Roy arrived and we all sat on the deck and ate a steak dinner watching the sun set. After dinner I jumped in my Saturn 5 and headed up to Wawina to meet up John Sayer at his cabin. We had a couple cocktails and headed to bed early for a good start to grouse opener the following morning.

John and I woke up early, I had instant coffee and John had his usual Tea. We jumped in his Suburban and headed towards Pancake Lake. Within 15 minutes John rocked a small Grouse just on the edge of a road…which started off a great day of hunting, hiking, and harvesting 5 of 7 birds we saw. Later that afternoon I headed back down to Cromwell and was greeted with a stained cabin! Ryan, Pumper, Dave John, Whickey, Buck, Grant, Toots, Kate, and Claire were all there just finishing up the installing the electrical wiring and staining. Pumper, Dave, and Grant went bow hunting earlier that morning and got nothing. The mosquitoes were quite horrendous in the woods and limited the hunt in the morning. Buck shot 1-3 grouse with his hunting buddy Shadow.

That evening things switched from work to recreation. Pumper, Whickey, Ryan, Dave, and I went out for a quick Agate harvest which didn't yield to much due to the fact of the bat size mosquitoes which sucked a considerable amount of blood from our bodies. Pork chops, steaks, grouse, cheese curds, Mickey's doughnuts etc etc were consumed that evening washed down by several cold beverages.

That evening a small group proceeded to head to the Cromwell bar to have a few late night bloody Marys and Colorado bulldogs and pull some tabs. We pretty much ended up even due to the fact Dave John pulled a $104 by scent alone. The next day we stained the cabin one more time. Ryan built the stand for the stove. We picked up the garbage, swept the cabin inside. Within a week the tin roof, windows, and doors will be installed. Much more work lay ahead but the pool of willing labors is still bountiful. Great weekend guys!

- Cole

Update: Some pics of the new camp. She is looking AWESOME.

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Quick Jersey Update!
08.17.09
~Dave and Mikey Moon

Just wanted to throw a quick update on here. Mikey Moon and I just arrived safely in North Wildwood, New Jersey. So far we have been getting all our fishing gear ready, as the skies look a little threatening from the West. We've heard the surf is quite rolley polley as Hurricane Bill makes its way up the coast. We just got all our bait, Matt is on his way down, and we are looking forward to fishing tomorrow! We'll be chasing flounder, blue fish, weak fish, king fish, really anything that will bite. We have two crab traps set on the end of the dock with some bunker, and we'll hopefully make those "Deadliest Catch" guys proud. Stand-by for more updates! ITS HOT HERE!

Here is a link to the rest of our Jersey Trip! Click H3R3 to read on!

All pictures from our trip can be seen in gallery format, here

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Cromwell update
08.17.09

Just a quick update here. Last weekend, Mikey moon, Coles, Dave and I headed up to Cromwell to do work. Re-enforced the driveway a bit, chopped some wood, dug a fire pit, basically did work, son. Cole was so gracious as to 'write a wrightup' for us, so please click here, to find out more about our Cromwell weekend! Here are a few pics Sanny took of the weekend:

Lastly, here is a link to Dave's pics in gallery format. Gawd his camera sucks!

Dave's Cromwell Pics

-Doug

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Algoma Salmon Hunting!
08.01.09 - 08.09.09

~Written by Dave

Oh my...has it really been 2 months since my last update? Holy cow! First off, I would like to apologize for such tardiness on this update, and I should have not kept you all in the dark about the trips MMO has this summer. Without boring you more with apologies, lets get right in it! The long planning process for fishing Lake Michigan, in Algoma Wisconsin, was well worth it. Everything in and on the boat ran as smooth as possible, granted, there were a few fisherperson mistakes, which I will share with you later on in the update. My dad, the now Mickstacheless, and I prepped the boat for nearly a month in preparation for this trip (It must also be said that Shitz forfeited about 4 hours to help clean the boat). We were EXTREMELY excited to share the wonderful world of downrigger fishing with two very important people in my life, Mr. Mike Aune (aka The Good Looking Cartwright - read, shoot first, ask questions later), and Mr. Eric Kellin (aka Whickey). It was extremely fun getting as many people involved as possible, and we couldn't wait to go! In total, there were 9 people that went on this trip, they include: Captain Mickstacheless, My sister Lauren, Lauren's good friend Netta, Mike A, Auneman, Shitz, Pumper, Whickey, and me.

To see how well we did on our Algoma Salmon fishing trip, please click here.

To read Pumper's version of his portion of the trip, please click here.

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City Fishing Update!
06.02.09 & 06.04.09

~Written by Dave and Mike

Finally I have some time to throw an update on here...We have been fortunate to get out on the water for a couple hours during the week, after work. On Tuesday, June 2nd; Moonie, Joe Kyllonen and I got out on Lotus Lake in Chanhappenin. We mostly fished the shorelines in the Northern most bay as there was a dirty nasty NE wind. We managed to catch a few small bass, countless crappies and some sunnies. Mist fish were caught using jig and twister-tails as well as beetlespins and a couple bass were fooled by spinnerbaits and texas rigged worms via the master himself... Michael Moon. The day ended off with a little trolling for pike to no avail.

Our second trip of that week occured on what can be a very tricky lake to fish; Lake Minnetonka. On Thursday, June 4th we headed out to Mark's place in Excelsior for a little steak on the little smokey, and to wash it down... the champagne of beers. Embarking on this excursion was Davis, Doug and Mikey. We untied Mark's beautiful chrestliner and headed out on nice calm evening at sea. We cruised the docks and weeds of St. Alban's bay. Mark caught quite a few boats and ropes (for more on this, go to Mark's profile). The big fish of the evening was a chunky pike that slammed Mikey's buzzbait. On the night, several fish were caught on beetlespins and buzzbaits. Check out Doug's photos to see some of the fun that was had. Minnetonka can be a tough lake to fish... but as we three proved that night, Minnesota Men can't be bested by even the largest lakes the metro has to offer.

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Lake Superior
05.24.09

~Written by Dave

Yesterday, my dad (Captain Mick), and I, headed up to Lake Superior. We launched our boat at Barker's Island in Superior, and headed out the Superior Entry. We noticed a dramatic decrease in surface temps as we pointed the bow due North. We quickly shut down the big motor, and fired up our kicker, a 9.9hp Yamaha 4 stroke. Yes, she purrrrrrs like a kitten :-). We set our lines fairly shallow as there was a slight temperature break 10ft down, and then fairly stable temps below that. We set two lines on our downriggers and decided to run some flat lines 150ft behind the boat. On the rigger rods, we set out some trolling spoons, and on our flat lines, we tied on some stick baits. At roughly high-noon we had our lines set and we were fishing! We had barely 5mph winds out of the East, and a bright sunny day upon us. The weather was far more beautiful than the meteorologists had predicted.

To see how well we did on Lake Superior, please click here.

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MOONEY'S OPENER
05.08.09-05.10.09

This year my father and I went to Sauk Center to fish on Big Swan Lake in pursuit of the mighty walleye. We caught some bass and pike, moved to Lady lake just south of Big Swan, got blown around. Next we went back to the hotel, watched the Twins, called the ladies and went to bed.

The next day we decided to switch to Little Sauk lake in pursuit of Crappies. After catching only one crappie we trolled around to a different spot and stumbled across a 27 inch walleye!

Pic of the 27 incher will be displayed here, soon!

Fishing stunk, but we had fun. The end.

Read Pumper's it's better.

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Walleye Opener - Pumper Style
05.08.09-05.10.09

This year started off a little differently for me as I am planning on being a dad by the end of the year, so my opener/mother's day weekend had my priorities a little different. I left Thursday night for Grand Rapids to stay at my grandparents and golf on Friday morning with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and of course my dad Whickey.

Thursday night started with me meeting Uncle Buck at local watering holes. For all the people in town for opener, the bars were empty. I didn't mind, but Buck was cruising for fish, and not much there to even nibble. Uncle John met up with us later and we proceeded to talk about the Cromwell place and life in general.

To see how well Pumper and Company fared on their walleye opener, please click here. Don't worry...he didn't just talk about 'life in general' the whole time. He did move on to fishing :-)

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City Carpin'!
05.05.09

We have to dig 3 weeks deep into the outdoor files for this one. On May Day this year, Mikey Moon and I decided to hit Normandale Lake in Bloomington to test our luck against the ever so elusive common carp. We headed to the bait store (holiday gas station) and grabbed our secret bait, whole kernal corn! We arrived at the lake about 5:00 and it didn't take long to hook up to the first fish. It put up a great fight and provided for a great picture (below for the viewing impaired). We fished until about 7pm that night, and ended up missing 3 more fish. We fought them each for a couple minutes, but the hooks managed to pull...However, it was still a great time out fishing. If you are looking for some fun this summer, try hitting up an area lake and target carp. The set-up is simple, a small split-shot about 1 foot above a plain hook. Load up your hook with as many kernals of corn as possible, toss out, and hold on to your rod! Good luck to you all!

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Sturgeon Fishing
04.17.09

Alas, the men of Minnesota gathered yet again for a fishing spectacle of legendary caliber. David Kellin, otherwise known as "Buck", orchestrated this past fishing trip up to Baudette MN. The target fish was not quite as typical of a fish as one would think. Hearing the name "Lake Sturgeon", many people (even outdoorsman) draw a question mark in their minds about these evolutionarily ancient bottom feeders of lakes and rivers. Lake Sturgeon are now heavily protected due to pollution, fishing pressure, and loss of navigatable waterways. Sturgeon can grow up to six feet and weigh over two hundred pounds. They can also live well past one hundred years in age. Each year, thousands of sturgeons migrate up rivers to spawn. One of the most famous spots to fish for sturgeon is in Baudette MN, where the rainy river flows into Lake of the Woods [near the border of Minnesota and Ontario Canada]. Buck called up "Wigwam", a local fishing resort located on the mouth of the Rainy River/Lake of the woods, and made reservations for a cabin. There would be a total of nine of us fishing this weekend.

To continue on with Cole's journey, click here.

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Metro-Area
02.07.09-02.09.09

Just wanted to throw in a quick update. The weekend of February 7th, we decided to have a metro lake fish-off! Friday night, Mike M., Mike O., and I hit up Medicine Lake in Plymouth. We sat on a deep drop-off in about 40 feet of water over suspended crappies. Olson brought the Subway Sammiches, and I brought the beer. We were ready for some fish! We, however, were more ready than the fish were. The fish were very slow to bite. I used a jigging spoon, while Mooney and Olson both used waxies under a bobber. The bites were so lite, you could barely feel them. We managed a couple keepers, I believe 8 in total. The fish ranged from 6 to 8 inches. You might be wondering why we kept such small fish, well...they just wouldn't go back down the hole and we didn't want to let them go to waste. At about 9:30pm we packed up and left. We came back to Mooney and my apartment, filleted them bad boyz up and had a nice, fresh, late night, snack. We then had a couple beers and went to bed. We had to wake up early to meet up with the rest of the crew at Eagle Lake in Plymouth.

Eagle Lake, Plymouth...yeah, what a showing we had! We were in search of some Pike along the North end. I got a tip from a co-worker so we decided to test our luck! Well...turns out we left the luck at home, and we only managed one 30 inch northern, that managed to bite within the first 5 minutes of our 8 hour stint on the lake. It was a nice fish and we were all (minus Pat) able to get in the picture! *Note, the pic will be posted as soon as Pat can get me his memory chip.

Pelican Lake, Albertville...Pat, Clint, Mike, my dad, and I all headed out to Pelican Lake on Sunday. I was surprised to learn that its a giant waterfowl production area. The lake doesn't get very deep, yet we had hear many good reports on large northerns, and panfish. We set up near an island with the sharpest break we could find, maybe a depth change of 1 foot in about 30 yards. did I mention this lake is shallow? We set some tip-ups and started jigging for the pannies. We were jumping holes and couldn't mark too many fish. We had one flag about 3:30 that Pat grabbed. He pulled in a nice fat 3.5 pound Northern and then let it go. Then, about half an hour later, I pulled in what I thought was a decent sunny. Soon after my sunny, Clint pulled in a nice 3.5 pounder which he threw on the ice. I went and fished near my dad who did not have a vexi near him with a jigging stick that was way too stiff for the finnicky pannies. All of a sudden fish would just appear on my screen, lightly bite, then I would set the hook and bring them in. Some were real nice, some were small, but it was still fun. Soon when the sun was just about 30 minutes from the horizon the crappies turned on. I pulled in a couple nice 10 inchers right away, but they weren't the highlight of the trip. I brought over a couple sunnies and saw Mike just set the hook into a fish. He was using, I kid you not, a real noodle for a rod. The noodle was just bent to the point of breaking. Soon he got it in, and I could only see a silhouette of the fish laying on the ice. I thought it was a small bass, like I had just caught earlier, but I was wrong! It was a real nice sunny! I would put it close to 10 inches in length..? So...Mike and I were catching the panfish, while Pat only caught a couple crappies. I knew his ADD kicked in when he started throwing Roxie's ball at my dad...thanks Pat...I'm sure my dad appreciated that! Ass! I'm not going to say it wasn't funny...but after a while, it lost its effect.

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Sayer Cabin, Pancake Lake
01.22.09 - 01.25.09
A Coleman Shitzlickey Joint

Sorry for the tardiness of this update but much has been happening in all of our busy lives, or so we think. This is and probably will be the biggest showing for the MMO crew for the ice fishing season. Through countless emails during work hours a long with some phone calls the MMO crew decided it was time to unite and force our ice fishing expertise towards the crappies on Pancake lake, Wawina MN. The trip resulted in countless memories, quotes, and some fine tasting Pancake Lake crappies.

To read further of our Pancake Lake debauchery, click here.

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Winnie Trip
01.15.09 - 01.18.09

Time has flown by, just like our recent outings have. Once again, we are slow to update the website. I want to tell of a few tales that were had on our annual Winnie trip. A lot of prep went into this year's trip, and it was well worth it! The trip began early afternoon on Thursday, January 15th. I (Dave) met up with Pat's dad at his house, and we packed the truck and car-pooled together. Pat and Mike had to wait a little bit to get off work, and then they met up and drove up together. Pat's dad and I had a couple stops to make on the road. We first stopped to get some food in Mora, and some quick bladder relief. Then, it was off to Grand Rapids. The original plan was to meet at Buck's (Pat's Uncle, Whickey's Brother's) house to load up some snowmobiles. Turns out Buck got a little excited about our arrival and already had everything set to go! He urged us to stop at some GR bar and have a beer, but we just wanted to get to Winnie and be done with travelling. So, Whickey and I left for the bait shop. Whickey called ahead to order some bait as they would not be open when we passed by. We found our cooler and waited for Buck. We needed to relieve our bladders once again, and thought what better place than the dirt parking lot! So, we are standing there doing our business, Buck comes down the road and has his signal on for turning into the parking lot. Whickey says "Boy, I wish I was quick enough to pull my pants down and moon him". And that was all I needed to hear...I quickly dropped trous and gave Buck one of my top three goats! BAAAAA! It was one for the ages! Needless to say, he was shocked, and amused at our foolishness! After we have our laughs, we grab all our stuff and head out from the bait store, and then stopped to get some beer. We switched vehicles, and I then was driving Whickey's truck, while Buck and Whickey rode together. We left the liquor store, and headed for the Gosh Dam!

If you would like to read more of our fishing/debauchery Winnie trip, please click here.

Also, we have an addition to the story via Pumper, here.

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Aune Cabin
01.11.09

Its been too long since the last update, so I (Dave), am going to sit down, grab a beer and have at it! Starting after the first week in January of 2009, Mark had an itch to hit up his cabin. A couple emails, and phone calls later, it was booked! I used the small mustache I had to wriggle my manager into allowing me to leave work at noon, Friday, January 9th. Mark, his dad; Mike, and I rendezvoused at Mark's place in Excelsior, packed all our ish as quick as we could in Mike's new truck and hit the road. It was on! It had been way too long since the last weekend trip to the Aune cabin, and it was well overdue. On the agenda, was beer, darts, fishing, snowmobiling, beer, and more fishing! Needless to say, we were pumped! In the tiny town of Glen, home of the "Pine Inn" Bar/Restaurant where many o' beers have been consumed, we bought our bait and beer at the BP. Now...it must be stated, that Mike was not too confident with waxies on Section 12 for crappies, but my inner wriggle told me otherwise (You'll learn later, why I must say this). So we beer'd and baited ourselves and made way to the cabin.

If you would like to read more of the glorious weekend at the Aune Cabin, please click here.

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