Wintertime memories as crisp as newfallen snow

Published 12:00 am Sunday, February 13, 2005

The winter seems to have settled on teasing us a little with warm weather and then settling back into the reality phase of winter. I guess the way I handle the weather in Minnesota is pretty simple &045; enjoy the nice days and tolerate the not so nice.

Getting up early in the morning and shoveling snow is an eye opener. It somehow brings a little bit of the kid out in me. I still am intrigued by the various little critter tracks that are made in the fresh snow. There are squirrel and rabbit tracks pretty much everywhere you look in the yard. As long as I don’t see any mouse tracks heading towards the house I am fine.

Seeing the rabbit tracks brought back some memories of growing up on the north side of town and walking to school in the winter. I attended grade school at Hammer School &045; the old two-room schoolhouse that has since met its imminent fate a few years back. I walked to school every day in the six years I attended that school. This is where I could talk about walking 6 miles to school every day in bad weather but I know someone would remember that I only lived two blocks away.

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I carried a lunch every day (it’s what you did if you wanted to eat) and I can still smell the egg salad sandwiches or taste the creamy peanut butter sandwiches that my mother would pack for lunch. The lunch room was in the basement and we could eat outside when the weather was good.

There was Mother’s Club, which was held once or twice a month; I’m not sure how often. That was the day the mothers would come to school all dressed up and meet with the teachers. I never really knew what it was they did but I guess it was like a PTA or something. Most moms were housewives and didn’t have full-time jobs, which is almost a necessity for most families these days. The good thing about that was we would get out of school a little early on that day.

Every day after school I would walk home with my friend Larry who lived on the way home. A lot of the time he would ask me to stop and watch TV. We didn’t have a TV at our house so I looked forward to going to Larry’s where we could watch Howdy Doody and the cartoon show Crusader Rabbit. Now Crusader was a cool rabbit and was always outsmarting the bad guy. The show wasn’t very long and I think it was sponsored by Bunny Bread or Wonder bread that helped build strong bodies 12 different ways. A couple of

years later we finally got a TV and I had it made. Howdy Doody, Crusader Rabbit and then Bart’s Clubhouse came along and I thought I was on top of the world.

Watching TV wasn’t my first love but it was a good second. Being outdoors and playing football or guns or hunting with the trusty Red Ryder BB gun, now that’s what kids did. We played cowboys and Indians and nobody told us it was wrong. We played Army and shot each other hundreds of times with stick guns or cap guns. I dressed up as a cowboy one year for the school Halloween party decked out with cowboy hat, bandana and a double holster armed with my Roy Rogers cap pistols. I suppose I’d be in jail right now if I was a kid today and wore that to school.

Times change and we can never go back but we still have a lot of things we can do to enjoy the simple things. The outdoors experience is one thing that we will always have available to us as long as we respect it and do our part to protect the environment. Hunting, fishing, camping, skiing, biking and hiking are just some of the things that we can enjoy right here in our own back yards.

I guess my cabin fever might be reaching its peak but hopefully the weather will turn and give me a little relief. If relief isn’t in the near future I know that a trip to Cabela’s is just around the corner.

I guess I may have been restless this time of year even as a kid. Back then I’d bury my nose in an Outdoor Life magazine or a Field & Stream and put myself in any place and any time but the cold snowy present. I loved reading about fishing tarpon in Florida or barracuda on the Florida Keys.

That was adventure. These guys fought these fish for 40 or 50 minutes in the book. Later on I read about guys fighting a muskie for half an hour. Now I have never caught a 50-pound fish but I have caught a few muskies and I’ve never had one fight for quite that long.

There was only one time when I fought a big fish for a half an hour and that was because whatever I had on was on the other end of my ultralight with 4-lb. test. It was on Tetonka Lake so I’m guessing it was a big &uot;Cat.&uot; I would like to think it was a lunker walleye but then reality sets in and I know that wasn’t the case. If you have it on your line and don’t see it I guess it can be about anything you want it to be and almost any size too if you really want to punish yourself by reliving, &uot;The one that got away&uot; tale. I guess I still like to keep a certain element of surprise in my fishing and not know exactly what’s lurking in the depths below the boat.

For those of us that still want a little ice fishing here are a couple reports from southern Minnesota.

€ Fairmont: Crappies are biting in the evening on Budd Lake in 20-22 feet of water. Hall Lake has been having some jumbo perch action in 18 to 20 feet. Some small pike are biting and Cedar Lake is always a good bet for numbers of pike with sucker minnows and tip-ups.

€ Faribault: Low light periods of the day have provided steady crappie action on French Lake in 40 to 45 feet of water. Cedar Lake is producing crappies in 22 to 24 feet of water. Sunfish are being caught in the shallow bays of Shields Lake and Lake Mazaska. An occasional walleye is being caught on Cedar Lake in six to 10 feet and Roberds Lake is giving some up in 14 to 20 feet of water. Check the shallow weed edges of Shields Lake and Kelley-Dudley Lake.

Until next time play safe and enjoy the outdoors.

Remember to keep our brothers and sisters that are serving our country in your thoughts and prayers.

(Dick Herfindahl, Outdoors Writer)