Journal of a Minnesota Angler

On our way up to my father-in-law’s cabin, Mrs. MNAngler and I decided to look for the MN DNR Fishery that is on Hwy 61 on the North Shore of Lake Superior. We hadn’t been there in years and thought the kids might like it. We found it not far up the scenic route between Duluth and Two Harbors. The French River hatchery sits next to the MN DNR Area Headquarters and raises Rainbow Trout for release into regional lakes and streams. They trap Rainbows going up stream to spawn and harvest... (more...)

If you’re a regular reader here, you know that my brother, Vince, lives in Boulder and is also an avid angler. Regular readers also know he is a much better fisherman than I am. Since my last year has been pretty sparse with posts, he helped me out by doing a guest post a few months ago. I think he enjoyed writing about his adventure, because he recently took the plunge and started his own blog. So I would like to introduce… A Fishing Journey. Vince’s writing style is very similar... (more...)

So ends year #3. Since my last bloggaversary, my activity has slowed down due to my new job, but recently it’s been picking up again. I couldn’t believe I didn’t pick up a rod and reel until almost June this year, but since then I’ve been on 4 more outings (one hasn’t been posted yet). I’m hoping the trend continues as we head into July. And I’m hoping to show you some better fish porn as a result. As is tradition on my anniversary, I would like to thank... (more...)

It’s the last day of May and it bothers me that I didn’t publish a single post in April. So I definitely couldn’t let another whole month go without a post. The problem is, I haven’t touched a rod since before ice-out, which was super early this year. The last time I touched a rod was in February! I’m not going to go into the blah-blah-blah about the reasons behind my lack of wet lines. Suffice it to say I hope it changes soon. I hope you’ve been able to... (more...)

It’s that time of year again. The DMZ of fishing seasons, if you will. You can’t be on the ice to ice fish and you can’t be on the lakes because there isn’t enough open water. This year is a little more unusual than previous years. We’ve broken 6 record highs in the last eight days and are on track to break records today and tomorrow. And we didn’t just barely break the records, we’ve been shattering them. Earlier this week, the metro area broke a record... (more...)

I read on the Outdoor Blogger Network that 5.11 Tactical is holding an adventure contest. Yes, the page says the deadline was Jan 9, but OBN assures me I have until Friday morning, Jan 13. The main rule says, “We want to hear about your outdoor adventures – this can be anything related to your experiences in the outdoors.” I don’t have an idea for a new post (as I haven’t done anything outdoors for about 4 months), so I’m going to submit one of my posts that has... (more...)

Last May, I wrote an open letter to BassProShops asking them to open a store in Minnesota. In my idyllic mind, I saw my post collecting thousands of signatures (i.e. comments) to start a grass roots effort that ultimately brought BassProShops to Minnesota. Well, that didn’t happen. Frankly, I was surprised there wasn’t more interest. But, no matter. Yesterday, Macy’s Inc. announced they would be closing the Bloomingdale’s store at the Mall of America. The store anchored... (more...)

Happy New Year! I haven’t had all that much time to think about what I want to accomplish this year fishing-wise. The Lego League season and holiday season has kept my mind too occupied. So I’m going to cheat a little. Because I did so poorly in my goals from 2011, I’m going to carry them over. But I’m also going to make a couple of adjustments because of my new job. Fish at least once a month during open water bass season Float tube at least four times during open water... (more...)

If you were to judge my year simply on the goals at the beginning of the year, you would say that it was a dismal failure. I accomplished none of my fishing goals, only one of my blogging goals–barely (doubled blog traffic, accomplished yesterday), and only one of my online presence goals (1000 Twitter followers). I’m lucky to have established enough momentum in 2010 that I accomplished those two goals. This year, life got in the way. I got a new job in July and have been having so... (more...)

Whoa. I almost let the entire month of October pass without a post. Two weeks ago, I thought I needed to get a post out because a week had passed since my last post. To my shock, when I checked, three weeks had passed. I blinked, and two more weeks went by. It’s a testament to how crazy busy I’ve been as of late. I’ve been so crazy busy, I haven’t been able to keep up with my RSS feed and all the great outdoor bloggers. The number to the right should be a lot higher,... (more...)