Journal of a Minnesota Angler

During the SHOT show in January, SentrySafe gave away 40 pistol safes to Twitter followers that tweeted their contest. While I don’t own a pistol, the safe looked like it could be used for much more than firearms, so I entered. To my surprise, I won one. Given my recent non-fishing related posts, I thought I would keep with the theme and do a review of the safe. I was familiar with the SentrySafe family of products as I’ve owned both the Fireproof Security File and the smaller SentrySafe... (more...)

A few months ago, a friend of mine, who is originally from the UK and whom I regularly watch Doctor Who with (yes, I’m a geek), introduced me to a UK series called River Cottage. It stars Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (herein referred to as HFW for brevity) who was a chef by trade and decided to leave the comforts of the city for country life, or “smallholding” as the Brits call it. It started with “Escape to River Cottage” in 1999 and has since blossomed into an empire... (more...)

Earlier this month, I was contacted by Simeon Chambers of the Replica Toy Fish company. He said he had a product that kids love and parents really appreciate. Not sure of his claim, I checked out his web site. His story was very interesting. One summer his 7 year old son asked him for a toy Northern Pike. He searched one of the big stores for 20 minutes before finally buying a fishing lure that looked like a Northern. He gave it to his son (after taking off the hooks, of course), and his son... (more...)

Every week, the Outdoor Blogger Network holds a contest and gives away some gear to its members. The catch is that you have to review any product that you win. Back in December, they gave away some really cool ice fishing equipment and I was picked as a winner for the Frabill Pro-Thermal Tip-up Combo. Unfortunately, I only had once chance to use it in December and none in January. I finally got a second chance to use it when my brother was in town recently so I now feel better about doing a review.... (more...)

A few weeks ago, the folks at SmartShield contacted me and asked me to do a review of their sunscreen. While sunscreen isn’t what you think of first when getting gear together to go fishing, it is one of the most important. So I agreed. They sent me a free bottle in the mail last week. Unfortunately, I got my bottle a week too late. If I had received it earlier, I could have brought it with me to Cincinnati and really put it to the test. That week was my first major exposure to ultraviolet... (more...)

I started this blog as a fishing log of sorts to record where I fish, what I fished with, and what I caught. A few months afterward, I stumbled upon an article about fishing logs. The article said I should just do a web search for ‘fishing log’ (now why didn’t I think of that) to find free logs on the web. The first entry from Google was Fish Swami. I was very impressed with how well the site was put together. It was intuitive and easy to use. Within minutes, I was entering... (more...)

The great thing about the being part of the flog community is that if I don’t teach you something, somebody else will. And if you miss it, I can pass it on. The moral of the recent post by Kramer Gone Fishing is simple: Look for something different. I can’t say it any better than he does. Read his article: You already think like a fish… AKPC_IDS += "2746,";Share this:FacebookStumbleUponDiggEmail Read More →

April is a slow month for fishing in Minnesota because the only species in season are panfish and rough fish. Until I find the best place to go after these off-season species, I have to find something to ramble on about lest you get bored and wonder off. Since I’m daydreaming/night dreaming/pretty much all-the-time dreaming about catching bass, I wanted to show you a cool video. About two months ago, Tyler Brinks posted a very interesting video on his blog showing a fisherman catching a largemouth... (more...)

As if the Hobie Mirage Pro Angler wasn’t cool enough, Hobie recently announced an electric motor that mounts in the MirageDrive well. The motor will work in any of the Hobie kayaks that have MirageDrive and also comes with mounting hardware to fit the Hobie Twist and Stow rudder mechanism. So it works with all Hobie kayaks. This post is a faux review since I haven’t seen the motor in person, or used it yet. This is more an article of impressions. But I thought you might want to know... (more...)

When I was a teenager, I always wore those black ray-ban like sunglasses, but the cheap versions because I always misplaced them. I could never understand my peers who bought $200 brand names. In college, I discovered I needed prescription glasses, so I haven’t been able to wear those cheap sunglasses since. I couldn’t wear them with my glasses and I wasn’t allowed to drive without my prescription, so I have either had prescription sunglasses, or clip-ons. Prescription sunglasses... (more...)