Mr. and Mrs. Kraus Blog

This weekend was a wonderful celebration of a major achievement for Mrs. Kraus: college graduation! Saturday morning she walked across the big stage and received her college diploma. I can’t say enough just how proud of her I am. It’s truly an amazing accomplishment. She worked very hard and did very well, graduating cum laude.

Fishing after Mrs. Kraus's graduation

To celebrate her graduation, we went camping.  We caught some fish and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  We caught a number of channel catfish, and even some surprise walleye (which we of course released back to the river, because the walleye opener is next weekend.  D’oh!).

We have really been getting into mountain biking lately, which has been a lot of fun.  Last summer we bought mountain bikes and a rooftop bike racking system for our car.  We loaded up the bikes and spent a few days up near Duluth, enjoying some great biking and camping at places like Gooseberry Falls and Splitrock Lighthouse.  This summer we plan to enjoy a lot of great biking adventures!

I just posted a number of graduation pictures on Facebook, so friends and family go take a look.  You can even see a video of Mrs. Kraus walking the stage and receiving her diploma.  So proud!

Chad Kraus fishing, mountain biking, Mrs. Kraus

Remember that painting of Al’s I mentioned I like? Mrs. Kraus likes it too– so we bought it!

Reminds me of fly fishing last summer

It reminds me of last summer when Mrs. Kraus and I camped at Whitewater State Park. The banks of the trout stream were really wide, so it was easy to cast my fly rod. It was so nice I fished for hours and got blisters. But they were the good kind of blisters!

Chad Kraus camping, fishing, Waggie Art

This weekend was a lot of fun. We started out by going to the new church to help construct the new lighting and hang the lights. About 40 volunteers showed up so we got a ton done. After that we had Chris and Sarah over to watch a movie. We watched “License to Wed” which had a few very funny moments and overall was a decent movie.

Saturday we slept in late and I played some computer games in the afternoon. We went to “B-Dubs” that night for dinner. Sunday morning, Mrs. Kraus and I were on the worship team at church. I had a rough set in my opinion– didn’t play as well as I wanted to and the wind blew my music off my stand during the 10:30 service. But others said it all sounded good, so I guess the big guy upstairs was at work in the room. Still, in an effort to get better at guitar, I asked one of the other guys who plays in church if he wants to get together and play guitar once in awhile, so that should be fun.

After church I vegged for awhile and then we decided to go out to Dad’s place on lake Tetonka. We packed a small bag to stay overnight, a couple of DVDs, and our fishing gear. When we first got there we were still a bit tired, so we watched “Hitch”. We’ve probably watched that movie about 3 or 4 times since I bought it, and it’s always funny. Kevin James is hilarious.

After the movie we went fishing off the bridge. I caught a largemouth bass (see pics). Nothing too huge, but it was a fun one because it thrashed so much in the water. It never jumped, but it was really fighting me in the water. We used nightcrawlers that we bought from the bait shop in Madison Lake on the way there. We didn’t catch anything else, so we went in for the night and cooked up a frozen pizza we brought over.

We slept well in the nice bed that night and slept pretty late. After breakfast we fished again for quite a long time, but didn’t have any luck. I think it’s because SO MANY boats passed by on account of it being Labor Day. We didn’t get more than 5-10 minutes at a time before a couple more boats would come by, some of them with children quite loud, so that’s probably why. It was still fun and we got a good tan. After that, we packed up and headed home around 5pm.

It was a great weekend. Thanks Dad and Kate!

Comments from old site:

Written by Adam
Posted: Monday, September 1, 2008 at 9:20 PM

Glad you guys had a fun weekend, largemouth bass are a lot of fun to catch, no matter the size. I can relate. adam d:o)

Chad Kraus fishing, holidays

January in Minnesota is way too cold. Most mornings we wake up and the thought of leaving the flannel sheets is hard to muster. However, there are a few seasonal activities that keep our minds occupied long enough to make it through this wicked month.

One of these pass times is ice fishing. Maybe you saw my article on Florida Fishing, or had a good laugh reading about my encounters with the snakes at the lake. Ice fishing is a whole new ball of wax.

First thing you do is dress REALLY warm. There is nothing else in your life that you would want to dress warmer for than this, because everything gets colder when you party on a gigantic slab of ice. I got all bundled up before we headed to the lake. On the way there we stopped at The Bobber Shop for a Minnesota fishing license, some hooks, bobbers and wax worms. Upon arrival to the lake there is a decision to be made. The driver must ask himself, “Do I have the courage to drive my car onto that giant slab of ice, the one that just over a month ago had ducks swimming in it?” If you answer is yes, he should be sure to roll his car windows down for the trip to the middle. If the ice starts to crack, the driver better be able to hear it. But if the answer is no, get that sled out of the back and load it up with your gear– you’ve got a decent walk ahead of you to the middle of the frozen lake.

Now you might be a little tired when you arrive to the middle of the lake if you walked there. But toughen up fellas! It’s time to drill some holes! The ice appeared to be just over 2 feet thick when we went the other day. Take that times 3 holes, and you have 6 feet of ice to manually drive through with the auger. That’s taller than many men, so be proud of your accomplishment when you are done.

Next, I’ll take a moment to mention the men on the trip. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my buddy Chris and his dad Loren (aka Mr. E). Loren is full of all kinds of local knowledge about the nearby lakes, so it was fun to talk about Minnesota with him. Chris is full of other things, so it’s always great spending time with him…

Back to the ice fishing. After we got our holes drilled, we then turned our attention to our “jiggle sticks”. That’s right, I said “jiggle sticks”, and what I am referring to are the fishing poles. They are very tiny in comparison to the typical fishing apparatus, especially compared to a fly rod. So it didn’t take long to get them setup. Mr. E tied on a little hook, threaded a couple wax wurms on there, added a sinker and then dropped the line into a hole. As soon as it hit bottom, he raised it back up a few inches and attached a foam bobber to keep the bait floating just above the bottom. Let’s face it. It’s a frozen lake. It’s freeeezing, and the fish will stay as close to the bottom to keep warm as possible!

Once we were all setup with jiggle sticks in hand, it was time for the fish to make their appearances. Luckily, fish are not required for a happy ice fishing trip. It’s about the companionship, the stories and the exercise. At least for me anyway.

And in the midst of all the stories and talking, suddenly, there it was. A little extra jiggle on the end of Chris’s pole. He hooked it straight away, and quickly pulled it up. This lovely crappie was on the other end. I’m pretty sure it was so cold out that it froze to death as soon as it hit the January air. Quick and painless. We made some hot chocolate on my camping stove after that to celebrate the catch. After a couple hours we decided to call it quits. We packed up and drove home.

So that was my ice fishing experience last weekend. Good times! I’m definitely going back soon, and maybe next time I’ll get a fish of my own. I guess if I don’t, then I’ll just have to go for a big bass in the spring on the fly rod. One positive to that option is, a guy doesn’t come home feeling like this frosty fellow:

Amanda's first snowman

Comments from old site:

Written by Chad Kraus
Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 9:32 PM

I had only been ice fishing one other time that I can remember. I was really young. I went with my dad and brother, and some guy named Gene-O from Jainesville!

Written by Sarah
Posted: Thursday, January 31, 2008 at 9:17 PM

I’m so glad you guys made it through this brutally cold month! You know, I’ve lived in the Midwest all my life and have never ice fished. I’ll leave that one up to you, Chris, and Mr. E. Oh, btw…you hit the nail on the head. Mr. E can tell you anything MN related, and Chris is definitely full of something!

Chad Kraus Chris, fishing, Minnesota