Mille Lacs w/Pete Tues/Wed

Yesterday was such a nice day that I agreed to go fishing with Pete one more night out on Mille Lacs. The plan was to be out there at 7:30pm to go fishing for smallmouth, but Pete didn't have the boat ready to leave until after 8:15pm. On the way we stopped to get pop and when we got to the access Pete realized he forgot his life vest and so we had to drive back down 169 to the Marathon gas station where amazingly enough they did have life jackets. By the time we finally got on the water it was getting pretty dark, so we just went right into trolling.

Right away Pete got an eater eye. A little while later Pete hooked up again, but as I was reeling in my line it somehow got caught up in Pete's. Pete managed to hand line it in. The fish was right at 18 inches so it had to go back. On the next trolling pass Pete and I both missed bites and then went a very long time without anything. Finally as we were back up on Sherman's point I got a 16" or so smallie. We trolled around to the North side of Sherman's where Pete hooked into a 24" eye. There was some weather coming in from the NW so we decided to troll our way back South. While still on the North side of Sherman's I popped a 15" smallmouth. Once we got to the South side of Sherman's Pete tied into a big fish. The wind was blowing pretty good and the boat turned funny and once again my line got caught in Pete's. I got the two lines separated quickly by cutting my line, but Pete was already trying to bring it in by hand and the fish got off. Pete was pretty frustrated and I felt bad.

The wind kicked up even more and it started to sprinkle, so Pete fired up the gas motor and we headed in sometime after 3am.

Sandy scare: Pete has a 12 year old dog named Sandy and that dog is everything to Pete. When I got home I was greeted by Patti and Lilah, but Sandy was nowhere to be found. I went downstairs and that is where she was. I called her to come upstairs and she had a hard time getting up them. She was limping and unsteady on her feet, something obviously was not right and I was quite worried. Pete checked her out and got busy on the phone trying to contact a vet that would see her right away. It did not help matters that Pete was pretty sleep deprived by this point. After talking to a couple of different vets and contemplating several options he decided to hit the sack at 7am and get up in a couple of hours and take her to the vet then. I was worn out and went to bed too.

I am not sure what time Pete got up and on his way, but I believe he took Sandy to our Vet in Little Falls. Sandy tested positive for some tick born illness that matched her symptoms and that is treatable with antibiotics. It may very well be that Sandy had the same problem that my dog Soren experienced a few years ago that gave me quite a scare. Hopefully Sandy will be fine.