Journal of a Minnesota Angler

If you’ve read any of my blog from last summer, you know that I spend a decent amount of time on the Gunflint Trail in Northern Minnesota. I found out this Spring that on October 16, 2009, the Gunflint Trail was named a National Scenic Byway by the Department of Transportation. Highway 61 on the North Shore, which runs from Duluth to the Canadian border is part of our drive to get to the Gunflint Trail. We take it from Duluth to Grand Marais and head up the Gunflint Trail from there. It... (more...)

I’ve written once before that as you go through life, you’ll meet hundreds, probably thousands, of people. But only a few will have an impact on your life. Most of us have a teacher that changed our life in some way. While I can’t say any one teacher changed my life, one had an impact. His name was Dr. Jon Barber. He was my high school advanced physics teacher. I found out this weekend that he passed away last week. What made Dr. Barber a good teacher was his humor and his... (more...)

As I mentioned in my review, the fine folks at SmarShield Sunscreen are providing a free bottle of sunscreen lotion to one of my lucky readers. They left the contest up to me and I’ve been trying to think of a clever contest to give it away. But then I realized I was overthinking it. So here is the only rule: You get one entry into the contest for every mention of this contest on the web. That includes Twitter, Facebook, your own blog, forums, and whatever else you can think of. For each... (more...)

No, it’s not a new radio station. It stands for “No Time For Fishing.” I was in Cincinnati last week helping my sister-in-law and brother-in-law with a deck raising. We built the super structure of a deck that will eventually be three levels and nearly 1000 square feet in size. Unfortunately, we worked so hard on the deck, I never got a chance to go fishing. It’s just as well as it rained quite a bit while we were there and I heard that the river that was nearby was flowing... (more...)

In the journey of life, you’ll meet all kinds of people. Some you’ll like, some you’ll dislike. Some you’ll respect, others you won’t. Then there’s the rare person you’ll meet that you’ll respect so much that you’ll stumble over yourself to gain their respect. My wife’s uncle, William “Bill” Henry Harrison was such a person. Bill Harrison was one of the smartest people you’ll ever meet. Not only was he intellectually... (more...)

This has nothing to with fishing, but is an amusing story I thought you would enjoy. My wife and I have been on a Chipotle kick as of late. We order on-line and I drive 10 minutes to a nearby suburb to pick up our order. In the last 2 months, we’ve probably done this 6-7 times. Last week, when I went to pick up my order, I went directly to the cash register as I usually do. There was a bit of a line ordering on the spot and he cashier didn’t pay attention to me. The manager, a burly... (more...)

We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog subject to bring you a special post. The State of Minnesota insists we let the fish use their heart shaped beds and metaphorical mirrors on the ceilings these next few months so that the proverbial fish stork can bring new fish babies to the lakes. In the meantime, I’ll be informing you of stories like yesterday’s post as I find them, but today I thought I would come out of left field and post something completely unexpected. Sorry if I’m... (more...)

I don’t really consider myself an “outdoorsman.” I don’t really do anything “outdoorsy” except fish. But recently, I’ve taken to dispatching rabbits because of their destructive behavior. My wife surprised me last year when she wanted to try to cook them. I learned how to skin them via the classic Joy of Cooking cookbook and she made hossenfeffer last summer for our neighborhood wild game feast. It didn’t turn out too bad, but the meat was very... (more...)

This may be an odd subject for a fishing blog, but there is a method to my madness. This post is a preamble to a braised rabbit recipe I’ll be posting shortly. Granted, rabbit doesn’t have much to do with fishing either, but at least it has to do with the outdoors. My wife has been making homemade chicken stock for as long as I’ve know her. After making a (homemade) roasted chicken, she’ll use the carcass to make the stock. She’ll then freeze it for making homemade... (more...)

It has been widely reported that, by Minnesota law, permanent/unattended ice houses in the Southern two-thirds of Minnesota will have had to be off the ice by midnight, March 1. The Northern third of Minnesota has until March 15. The Waseca County News reported the same in their own article. But what made the Waseca County News article interesting is their warning about driving on ice. They said the following: The DNR recommends vehicles stay off the ice for 24 hours after a cold snap, as a rapid... (more...)