WILTZ: Hamlet might have said, ‘There’s something rotten in Washington’

Talk about it

Do fish have a sense of taste? Can they enjoy biting into YUM or GULP, the artificial bait that feels like it’s alive? In my opinion, they don’t like them as well as live night crawlers or bait fish, but these live bait substitutes are a close second.

About three years ago, while fishing the fast water beneath the Randall Dam, I couldn’t help but notice that my friend Mike and his wife were almost continually landing a fish. When I later asked him what he was using for bait, he told me they were using jigs garnished with a white GULP. He asked me not to write about it, and I honored his request.

Today you’ll find a few boats in that fast water any time of the day. With the 16-inch minimum size limit on walleyes lifted until September, many anglers are keeping limits. And yes, everybody seems to know about the pearl white GULP. Boat control can be difficult down there, but allowing your GULP to swirl around and down makes catching fish almost a sure thing.

Finding some 3-inch pearl white GULP might be the most challenging part of this fishing. My latest batch came from the Kansas City Cabela’s as everyone in our area is sold out of this product. We were down there visiting our oldest daughter and family.

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My Second Amendment right to bear arms is of paramount importance to me. When someone attempts to jeopardize that right, I’ll go after them with everything I’ve got. In past columns I reported on a government operation dubbed “Fast & Furious” by the media. Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama appeared to be implicated in the ill-fated operation. Here’s what happened.

In an effort to make it appear that additional gun control is needed in our country, certain Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms agents were authorized to purchase guns from licensed dealers in our Mexican border states. When the dealers asked what was going on, they were told to keep quiet about it. The BATF agents then “walked” the guns across the border and made the guns available to the Mexican Drug Cartel, hoping some of the guns would eventually show up at a crime scene.

The idea was that the serial numbers of captured drug cartel guns could be traced to licensed dealers in U.S. border states, and the authorities could then illustrate how easy it was for drug cartel thugs to obtain guns in America.

Some of the guns eventually surfaced, and one of them was tragically involved in the death of a U.S. Border Patrol officer. The illicit scheme was uncovered when some of the dealers and BATF agents “talked,” and a Congressional inquiry was authorized to investigate. That investigation uncovered a plot that left fingers pointing at Eric Holder. Since Holder receives his orders from the president, the only real question was whether or not Holder would protect his president and take all the blame.

On June 20th, when the committee’s questioning got too hot for Holder to handle, Holder asked Obama to assert “Executive Privilege” in order to protect him. President Obama did as Holder asked. Regarding Obama, I see his implementation of executive privilege as being very close to an admission of guilt. Though the privilege is loosely defined, covering up dirty politics was never the intent of executive privilege.

When Watergate came down on President Nixon in 1974, he asserted “Executive Privilege.” We all know what happened to Nixon. Whether you are Republican or Democrat shouldn’t matter. This huge mess needs to be cleaned up. The significance of Watergate pales in comparison to Fast & Furious. Is today’s Washington so corrupt that Congress will allow this travesty to be swept under the rug? It sure looks like it.

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I recently treated three of my grandchildren, Sam, Grace and Gabrielle, along with their dad Tom, to a Canadian fishing trip. I had originally considered a fly-in trip to a remote lake, but my daughter LuAnn advised against it as the kids may not have been mature enough for primitive conditions and nothing to do but fish. Her thinking made sense. I was forgetting that Sam was 15, and the identical twin girls only 12.

We chose Clark’s Resort at Vermilion Bay Ontario (info@clark’s resorts.com). Other than fishing the Indian Chain of Lakes, Clark’s offered cabins with full utilities, an impressive sand swimming beach, game room and town within short driving distance.

Upon our arrival at Clark’s, an easy day’s drive, we were shown to our cabin. A crash course on piloting our rental boats followed, and then we were given a detailed map of the lakes. Davis, son of the camp owners, then marked the locations of reefs where we might catch walleyes, the shorelines where we might catch smallmouth bass on surface lures, and finally some ideas on where muskies might hang out. We were ready to go!

Prior to leaving, I had promised myself that this trip was for the kids, and that I would do whatever they wanted to do. I only hoped that for an hour here or there I might be able to get away to toss over-sized lures at muskies — something I guessed the kids wouldn’t care for. Was I ever wrong on that notion! I’ll tell you about it next week.

Photos: Gab & Grace with walleyes

Sam with his northern pike

Tags: outdoors, hunting, updates