Listen Live Listen Live to KFGO Email Email the KFGO Studio
Money Savers KFGO Money Savers KFGO Coupons KFGO Coupons
Employment Connection KFGO Employment Connection Classifieds KFGO Classifieds
Movie Listings KFGO Movie Listings Health Links KFGO Health Links
Photo Album KFGO Photo Album Autos KFGO Autos
KFGO News Blog KFGO Blog KFGO Audio Podcast KFGO Podcast
Mike McFeely
 

KFGO News Headlines  November 7, 2009

 

  • Mike McFeely column
  • Jason Mitchell

Visit the Mic McFeely Blog >>

The Mike McFeely Column

 

Give Us This Day Our Daily Rant: Good luck with that stadium, Vikings

 

As predictable as the autumn leaves tumbling from maples and oaks, the Minnesota Vikings are beginning another push to get a new stadium.
The Vikings were back at the State Capitol yesterday to tell legislators – again – that the team would not renew its Metrodome lease, which runs out after the 2011 season. The team’s stadium point man stopped short of threatening a Vikings’ move, but did say owner Zygi Wilf is taking heat from other NFL owners.
The timing of the latest offensive is as obvious as the answer to this question: Is there a big game Monday night?
The Vikings are as hot as they’ve been in 11 years. They own the state again. Their quarterback is as big of a star as you’ll find and, oh yeah, their running back is pretty good, too. Every eye in the sports world will be on the Vikings on Monday night (and every TV in the Upper Midwest will tuned in).
The Vikings are taking advantage. Nothing wrong with that. That’s just good business.
Even Minnesota’s nonresident governor, He Who Wants To Be President Pawlenty, is changing his tune with the political winds blowing and a fever pitch surrounding the Purple. A month after saying a new Vikings stadium is on “the back burner,” T-Paw said Friday that something must be done to keep the Vikings in Minnesota.
Maybe a recent Minnesota Poll that showed lukewarm support in the state for Pawlenty’s presidential aspirations spurred the governor to boost his popularity in his home state.
Whatever the case, it’s unlikely the Vikings’ latest, well-timed pitch is going to have much of an impact on legislators and a large majority of Minnesotans.
The Vikings want $700 million of public cash to help build their stadium.
The state is broke and has spent the last several months slashing budgets, laying off teachers, trimming staff – you know, all those joyful things that go with massive deficits and a deep recession.
Those two things just don’t mesh, no matter how many times the Wilfs or their employees or their media bobos (that’s you, Sid Hartman) say the sky is falling.
And it very well might be falling this time, if you’re a Vikings fan. If the Vikings refuse to extend their lease beyond 2011 it would appear the only other option they have is to move. Where that might be is an entirely more complex question, but certainly there must be some city out there that wants an NFL team.
I’m not one of these anti-stadium, anti-sports, anti-Vikings dudes who will never concede that sports teams are a benefit to states and cities. They are, as unseemly as that might be to some. I’d love to see the Vikings stay in Minnesota for the next 100 years. They are a big part of the state’s – no, the region’s – landscape.
But, sorry, as long as the Metrodome is standing the Vikings do have a stadium in which to play. And it’s not like the team isn’t profitable. And it’s not like the team is wallowing in years of losing.
And as long as Zygi Wilf is a multi-billionaire, and as long as Minnesota is broke, and as long as the recession is upon us – there will be no $700 million going to build a new stadium for the Vikings.
That is reality. The Vikings might not want to hear that. Vikings fans might not want to hear that. But as our guy Walter Cronkite used to say, that’s the way it is.

 

.

 Mike McFeely (mike@kfgo.com) can be heard from 2-5 p.m. Central Monday through Friday on "The Mike McFeely Show" on KFGO 790. The show goes statewide in North Dakota at 3 p.m. on KFYR 550 in Bismarck and KCJB 910 in Minot. Mike McFeely's blog can be read by clicking here. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/mikemcfeely

 

Here is the 30-point buck arrowed near Fond du Lac, Wis., by
Wayne Schumacher. More talk on this today on the Mike McFeely
Show.

BIG BUCKS

 

Jason Mitchell

 How to catch fish in the 'dog days' of summer

The fishing of late summer often gets a bad rap. In fact, anglers often refer to this time as the “dog days” of summer. While some patterns do change and we can’t argue with the fact that locations and patterns that worked well a month or two ago are now dead … there is still plenty of great fishing left. There are still willing fish left to catch which is great news for parents looking to sneak a few more fishing trips in before school starts or for farmers who have a few days off after getting caught up with spraying and haying. 
While this part of the country is obsessed with walleye, don’t overlook great bass, bluegill and crappie opportunities on many of the smaller lakes. Weeds are easy to find and identify this time of year, find the edges of the weed beds and you are going to generally find something with fins whether it is bass, panfish, walleye or pike. 
If your purpose is to just catch fish, there are two presentations that really stand out. A slip bobber with either a piece of crawler or a small leech will basically catch just about anything that swims. If you like to cast, a small jig with a twister tail or piece of crawler will also catch fish. When we look at all of the small natural lakes located within a hundred mile radius of Fargo, we are looking at a lot of water with a lot of fish. In fact, the bass fishing around FergusFalls, DetroitLakes and Ottertail is really phenomenal. Bluegill and crappie fishing opportunities are also abundant in this area. 
The catfish on the Red River is another world-class opportunity right under our noses and many anglers drive by the Red River in route to other fisheries. The Red River is one of the best places in the entire country for enormous channel catfish. Late summer is a prime time to target these fish.
If you insist on walleye, there are still plenty of great opportunities especially when we look at the larger bodies of water. Big lakes like DevilsLake, Mille Lacs and LeechLake keep kicking out fish all summer long. DevilsLake in particular is very easy to fish during the “dog days” of summer. Classic deep structure like rock piles, sunken islands, points and humps will hold fish. Right now, we are catching a lot of fish on the deep rocks and the presentation is pretty simple. Keep the boat on top of the structure and use a 1- or 2- ounce bottom bouncer to fish as vertically as possible in 20-35 feet of water. Basically, if you find rocks, there are usually fish around. Bait can either be a leech or crawler on a plain hook. 
A more sophisticated approach that allows you to cover a lot of water is trolling crank baits with lead-core line. Lead core allows you to get just about any crank bait deep. A general rule of thumb is one color of lead core (30 feet) will drop about 7 to 8 feet deep while trolling at about 2 miles per hour. Spooling up a line counter reel with four to five colors of lead core will enable you to get crank baits down to about thirty feet pretty safely. Small crank baits like Rapala Jointed Shad Raps and Salmo Hornets have been tearing fish up.
There are still plenty of opportunities to create some memories on the water this summer. Once summer is over, we have to wait a while in this part of the country before we can gaze out across a blue lake. This winter when the snow is blowing against the door and every parking lot in Fargo is filled with running vehicles, you might just wish that you sneaked a few more fishing trips in during the “dog days” of summer.
 
Jason Mitchell can be heard every other Friday on the Mike McFeely Show on KFGO,KFYR and KCJB. Mitchell is a Devils Lake-based fishing and hunting guide and is host of Jason Mitchell Outdoors, which can be seen regionally on Fox Sports Network.