On day 7, Ken brought me to three bays near the portage to Liz Lake in the afternoon. Ken hooked a small smallie, but lost it and I caught another 11″ smallie, both in the second bay. That evening, we tried to go after a school of fish we saw earlier in the week that I’ll tell you more about later.

The next day, we returned again in the afternoon. In the first bay there are all kinds of rocks. All week, I had been persisting with jig and pigs to try to catch something with it. I hadn’t planned to use the flukes as much as I did, but I wasn’t catching anything with anything else.

That afternoon, I pulled out the jig and pig again. On a cast into the rocks in about 9 ft of water, I saw my rod tip twitch and felt a thunk. I wasn’t sure if it was a fish, but a few seconds later the same thing happened: twitch-thunk. The third time–twitch-thunk–I set the hook. FISH ON! It turned out to be the largest smallie of the week, but still only 12″.

Species: Smallmouth Bass
Size: 12″
Lure used: green watermelon jig and pig

The reason I relay this story to you is because I caught this fish on my baitcaster and new St. Croix rod. It was the first one on the new setup. I was surprised at how the fish felt more like a thunk than a tap like on my spinning rod and reel. I’m not sure I like it. But I’ll have to catch some more fish on it to be sure.

This was my last outing before driving home. I would catch one more smallie at about 10″. I was particularly proud of that one because I had dropped my fluke over an exposed branch where it hit. I was able to pop it back over the branch before it got me all tangled up. That experience will help me if I ever get in another tight spot.

Now that I’ve recounted my fish over the week, I guess I didn’t do too badly. However, none of them were even close to what I would call lunkers. I’ll just have to keep searching for them on Ken’s lake.

Related posts:

1. Gunflint Trail 2010: Days 2-5
2. Gunflint Trail 2010: Day 1
3. Memorial Weekend, Day 3, Afternoon
4. Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway
5. The One That Got Away

For a couple of year’s now, I’ve been trying to get out to a lake that my friend and colleague, Harley, has been fishing for years. He almost always comes back with his daily limit of walleye from the lake. And last year, he landed a fish of a lifetime. We’ve tried to coordinate our trips so he could show me the ropes of the lake, but while we’ve been up there at the same time, we’ve never been able to go fishing together.

To get to the lake, you have to enter one of the lakes accessible by road and portage in, so it’s basically a day’s trip. Ken and I had been working on putting in a sliding glass door in his cabin and we finished that (between fishing) on Wednesday. So on Thursday, we decided we would take an adventure and try fishing my colleague’s lake.

We got to the first lake at about 10:30, paddled in a canoe to the portage, and hiked the portage to our destination. Harley had warned me it would be a tough climb and he wasn’t kidding. As you can see from the pictures below, the path through the woods had a pretty good incline. I took the canoe in while Ken would take it out. The incline was so tough, we ended up switching halfway. We traded legs on the way back. The last picture was Ken coming down the hill on the return.

  

Once we got on the lake, we let the wind take us down the lake. Ken used a bottom bouncer with worm harness, while I used a slip bobber, sinkers, and leech. My first two casts whipped the leeches off. I cast more lightly after that and kept an eye on the leech on each cast. It started out very shallow, only 6-8 ft. After a while, Ken took off the bottom bouncer and just used his worm harness. We floated for an hour and a half, but didn’t get very far. Harley talked about walleye holes at end of lake and at that rate, wouldn’t have gotten down to the end til 5pm.

I was a bit frustrated and really wished I had come out with Harley at least once before committing a full day not knowing where exactly the right spots were.

Harley was nice enough to highlight hot spots on a Minnesota DNR map (with the understanding that I would have to eat it after my trip) including a spot that had rocks where we could have lunch. Since it was getting close to 1pm, I decided we should paddle down and look for those rocks. We found some rocks, but the place he marked seemed further down. We stopped anyway.

After doing some measuring with my sinkers, I set my slip bobber at about 20 ft and tossed it out about 30 ft from the rock and let it drift with the wind. Ken tossed his worm harness out so it floated down and then sat down to eat.

After eating, I was putting our food packaging away when Ken exclaimed, “ooh, ooh!” I thought he was just joking with me but then I saw his rod bending down. So I asked, “really?” “Yes,” he replied and pulled out a 13-14″ walleye. We decided to keep it so I went to the canoe to get a stringer. I found that easily, but then decided to get my camera as well, which was further in the canoe. By the time I was getting out, I heard an, “AH!” followed by a splash. He dropped it in between some rocks into some water. There was no way for us to get it out. We hoped there was a way back to the lake from between those rocks.

We now knew fish were here. Ken then cast out again, let the harness drop down, and jigged it up. That’s how he caught the first walleye. He got another hit. This time it was a 9-10″ walleye. Another few casts and he pulled out a tiny perch.

Ken wanted me to try his spot. It was only about 10 ft out from our perch. I adjusted the line up to about 12-13 ft since that area was only about 15 ft deep. I considered putting on a new leech, too, since the one I had was looking rather peaked, but decided to try it anyway. I cast it out to Ken’s spot and within a few minutes, my bobber started bouncing. “Ken, look,” I said. We both watched as it started to descend under water. Considering we were after walleye, I let the bobber go under for a few seconds. Ken was anxious and pointed out that, “he’s got it!” I let the bobber go under about a foot before setting the hook. It didn’t feel like much, but Ken said, “there’s one to write home about!” Just then, he got a hit on his worm.

Not wanting to wait for Ken to get the net (I lost a fish earlier in the week waiting for him), I pulled mine up and as I turned around with it, my line broke! Fortunately, I was over the rocks and I quickly put my hands on it and pinned it against the rock to keep it from flipping back in the water. Ken grabbed the stringer and secured it and then took the picture below.

Species: Walleye
Size: 16″
Lure used: slip bobber and leech

I then had to re-rig my line and Ken was getting his rod setup with a better setup. It was like a fishing gear tornado hit the scene. We had tackle everywhere. It took us a good 20 minutes before we were fishing again.

Once I got setup again, I cast out to the same spot. Within minutes, my bobber went down again. Again, I waited til the bobber was under about a foot before setting the hook. This time, I pulled out a smaller guy at about 11″. I was going to get a picture before letting it go, but it got away from me before Ken could snap the pic. He did get the one below, though. Do you see it?

 

Then it got quiet. For the next 30-45 minutes, I didn’t get any hits. During that time, Ken pulled out a nice 12″ perch. But we didn’t keep it.

I then discovered that my bobber wasn’t at my bobber stop. The bobber stop was about 6 ft up the line. I fiddled with it for a while and found some abrasion on my line that was apparently acting as a bobber stop. I took about 10 minutes to clip the line and re-rig. I got the new rig to work correctly and once again, within minutes, I got a hit. I pulled out a 12 incher.

On my next cast, the line stopped premature of my bobber stop again. Frustrated, I decided to abandon that reel and old line and set up my other rod, which I brought to cast for smallies, and use that instead. Sure enough, I got that set up and within minutes, my bobber went down. This time I missed the fish and my leech was gone. The next 6 casts or so, I pulled in an 8″ and missed the rest, all with leeches stolen of the hook. Ken was getting hits on his worms as well and they were coming back half eaten.

I realized that the walleye were probably being true walleye and grabbing the bait and running. When I set the hook, I was probably tearing the hook out of the leech. They were pretty weak when I hooked them. I then started to let the walleye make their runs and waited to set the hook. It worked because I pulled out an 11″ that I actually waited too long with. The hook was in its gut. I’m afraid that little guy probably wouldn’t live, but I let him go anyway.

It was amazing. Every cast was getting pulled down within a few minutes. It got to where if the line didn’t go down, I thought something was wrong. In most cases, I was right. Either the leech got twisted in the line, or a sinker had slid down to the hook, or something funny like that.

I missesd a couple of more and once when I happened to look away for a second, Ken saw my bobber go under. I was waiting for the run, but Ken said he took the leech hard, so I shouldn’t wait to long to set the hook. I set it and hooked him. While Ken ran to get the net, I tried pulling the guy out of the water, but he thrashed and got off before Ken could get the net under him. He looked to be another 12 incher or so.

With my new theory about how the walleye were eating, I was now waiting a good 15-20 seconds before trying to set the hook. My bobber then started coming back to the surface as if the fish were letting go. I thought they might be feeling the weight of the line, so I took off one of my two sinkers. That didn’t help.

I decided that the walleye weren’t necessary feeling the weight of the line, but that the bobber was floating the leech back up when they let go of the leech to fully eat it. We should have really been using a lindy rig with a float near the hook so that the leech sits a foot or so off the bottom. Then when the walleye lets go to swallow, it won’t float away from them.

We should have left at 3:30pm, but we were having so much fun, we kept going. We ended up staying, but I wouldn’t be able to set the hook into another fish. At 4:30, the bobber stopped going down. The school must have moved on.

It was an incredibly fun day. Having gotten a nice walleye early on, I wasn’t so upset about losing the others. I would, however, like to revisit the lake and come back with my limit. I’ll have to ask Harley to outline the spots again, though, since I ate the map.

Related posts:

1. First Walleye of 2010
2. “Fish of a Lifetime”
3. Walleye Frenzy
4. Ice Walleye Sightings
5. The Play

I caught 5 smallies all under 12″ and a northern at 17″.

Exciting, I know. I’ve recorded the details of the outings for my own records, but I won’t bore you with them here. Day 6, however, got very interesting. Stay tuned tomorrow for that story.

In the meantime, check out this cool pic I took one night. My camera didn’t do the scene justice, but it’s pretty cool nonetheless.

Related posts:

1. Gunflint Trail 2010: Days 7 & 8
2. Gunflint Trail 2010: Day 1
3. Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway
4. Goals for 2010
5. Expect the Unexpected

We drove up to my in-laws’ cabin late Friday night to avoid traffic. We didn’t get in until 2am Friday night, so Saturday morning, I decided not to get up early to hit the water. Besides, I didn’t know if my father-in-law, Ken, had a boat tied up to the dock and ready.

It wasn’t until late afternoon that I would get a chance to get on the water. Since I had such a great experience float-tubing with my brother, I brought my tube up to give it a try on Ken’s lake. While everyone else went swimming in the lake, I took my tube out into the bay to try my luck. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, so the bite was tough. I mostly used the green watermelon jig and pig, but also threw a bubble gun fluke for a little while. I was out for about two hours without a single bite.

I actually did feel something that felt like a bite at one point, but I cast back to the same spot and decided it was just the contour of the bottom that caused the tick-tick-tick.

Even though there was no action, it was fun to be out on the lake in the tube. And it wasn’t my last.

Date: 8/21/2010
Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
Body of water: Poplar Lake
Location: Gunflint Trail, MN
Weather Conditions: sunny

After dinner, Ken and I hit the lake in his pontoon at about 7:30. I suggested we head to Voyager’s bay because I had such good success in the spot last year. Halfway there, the pontoon motor quit. As amazing as Ken is with repairs and such, sometimes he has a lapse. We had run out of gas.

I held the gas can at an angle so we could try to motor back, but we only got halfway back before the motor quit again. Ken paddled us back while I cast my jig and pig, but I didn’t get any hits.

We filled the gas tank and headed back out. We actualy made pretty good time and only lost about 20 minutes through the whole ordeal.

We made it out to the bay and came up to the dock where I caught my 27″ northern last year. I hit it with a bubble gum fluke while Ken tried a white one. Neither of us got a bite, so we headed further into the bay.

Ken tossed his fluke next to a fallen branch and hooked into a fish, but after a few seconds, he lost it. He told me to cast into the spot and sure enough, it hit me. But when I set the hook, nothing was on the other end. When I reeled in, the swivel clip I had attached my fluke to had failed and was open.

I quickly retied a new swivel and attached a new bubble gum fluke while Ken backed off the area. When I was ready, we coasted back in. I tossed the fluke back to the spot and halfway back on the retrieve I saw a swirl in the water. I didn’t feel anything on the line, but set the hook anyway. Sure enough, there was a fish on the line. It was a 17″ Northern.

Species: Northern Pike
Size: 17″
Lure used: bubble gum super fluke

We moved further into the bay and on one cast straight to the end of the bay, Ken got another hit. And again, he lost it. I tried the same spot, but whatever it was wasn’t interested in my fluke.

Along the way, I switched to the jig and pig on my baitcaster a few times, but as it got darker, I stopped using it because my accuracy is not as good as with a spinning reel as yet.

We went to a bay on the other side of the northern dock and kept casting well after dark, but we wouldn’t get another hit the rest of the night. The moon was very bright, so we were able to stay out a lot longer than usual. We finally gave up when I couldn’t see the splash of my lure after the cast.

Related posts:

1. Gunflint Trail 2010: Days 7 & 8
2. Bounty Hunting
3. Gunflint Trail 2010: Days 2-5
4. Expect the Unexpected
5. Yet Another Northern

Unfortunately, fishing wasn’t as good as it was last year, but I was also up there a month later. We only had one day where the fishing was better than marginal. All this summer I’ve been reading fishing reports from Sue Kerfoot, one of the lodge owners up there, and it’s been killing me not to be able to be there. And it appears I missed (most of) the boat.

But the family still had a great time and I still loved getting out of the water. I think my father-in-law was fished out by the end of the week and he was probably glad to see me leave. Due to the frustration of not catching as much, or as big of fish, as I would like, I was almost fished out. Almost.

Stay tuned for the journal entries about the week.

Related posts:

1. Good Week of Fishing
2. The Poplar Lake Monster
3. Picture of the Week

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 turns out that that stretch of road is also a National Scenic Byway known as the North Shore Scenic Drive.

Both roads are beautiful drives and I encourage you to spend some time on them if you ever come and visit Minnesota. Then stop in at one of the multitude of lakes you’ll encounter on the Gunflint Trail, catch some fish, and email me where you caught them and with what.

Map taken from the Gunflint Trail Scenic Byway web site.

Related posts:

1. Gunflint Trail 2010: Days 7 & 8
2. Gunflint Trail 2010: Days 2-5
3. Gunflint Trail 2010: Day 1
4. Marginal Week of Fishing

What made Dr. Barber a good teacher was his humor and his passion for teaching. He always had a smile on his face and was always ready with a funny quip. He made learning fun by teaching through demonstrations rather than with textbooks. He made all students feel special by giving tootsie pops to them on their birthday. And if you were lucky enough to have a one on one conversation with him, he had the gift of making you feel like you were the most interesting person on the planet. Probably because he was truly interested. He taught thousands of students through his 30 year career, yet he could remember you by name if he ran into you on the street years after you graduated.

I once got to interview him for a class assignment in another subject. One of the questions was, “What is your greatest accomplishment?” His reply was simply, “learning to read.” That answer was the epitome of Dr. Barber. Unexpected, humorous, and humble all at the same time.

I had the pleasure of attending his memorial service this morning (as much as attending a memorial service can be a pleasure). One eulogy recounted that when going around the table at Thanksgiving to tell what each person was thankful for, Dr. Barber’s answer was, “gravity.” Another told of a time where he insisted on paying his best friend for a pair downhill skis he had given away years before. The friend refused payment, but eventually relented and asked only for a dollar. Dr. Barber talked him down to $.75 and then negotiated a three month installment plan.

These stories are just a few examples of his sense of humor. He had the mind of a comedian, the intelligence of a Nobel laureate, and the magnetic personality of a Hollywood star. He started the Physics Force, a physics demonstration troupe with several other physics teachers. But his stage presence overshadowed all the others.

I’m not a teacher in my day job, but I am the coach of my daughter’s Lego League team. I like to interject humor when I’m coaching, teach with demonstrations rather than lectures, and try to point out each kid’s strength when I recognize it. It didn’t occur to me until today that I probably picked that up from a former teacher of mine. One who truly inspired.

No related posts.

Our neighborhood camping trip was this weekend and I was hoping to do some float tubing on the lake at our campground, but circumstances prevented me from doing any. Instead, I was limited to only an hour of shore fishing just before we left.

My wife dropped me off at the fishing pier while she and he kids went to the man-made lake on the grounds. Halfway down the walkway to the pier, there was an opening in the railing on each side to go out to the shore. I had intended to do some wading, so I took the right opening which had less brush to walk through. There were some tall reeds growing on the shore and some weeds just passed them. I was hoping to walk around the reeds and cast a scum frog into the weeds.

As I waded out into the lake with my swim shoes, the sand gave way significantly. With each step, I sank at least to my ankles, and it kept getting deeper. I had only gotten halfway passed the reeds when in one of my steps, I couldn’t pull my foot out without losing my swim shoe. It took me a good minute to figure out how to pull my foot out. So I opted to go back to shore.

I then saw a trail going into the reeds. I thought maybe it would lead to a clearing where I could cast into the weed bed. No such luck. It dead-ended into a clearing with 8 ft tall reeds in front of me.

I worked my way back out back to the shore and tried casting a green watermelon jig and pig while wading in about 5 feet. That’s all I could go out without encountering the quick sand. I only threw the lure a few times when I decided I wasn’t getting out to where the fish were. So I decided to go to the pier.

Just as I was walking back to shore, a family of 5 walked onto the pier. With two guys already casting, the pier was a bit too cramped to cast, so I surveyed the shore again. To the left of the pier, the shore looked even more promising than where I was on the right. There was a weed bed much closer to the pier and the bed had all kinds of stumps and branches sticking out of it. I had disregarded it earlier because the opening in the railing was dense with vegetation. I opted to try anyway.

It turned out to look worse than it was and I was able to get out to the shore without much effort. I put on my scum frog and waded out. The lake bottom was much firmer here, probably because the roots of the weed bed formed a firmer base.

I cast the scum frog for about 15 minutes without a bite. During that time, a boat trolled by the outside edge of the weed bed and the lady at the back of the boat caught a little bass. So I knew fish were around.

I cast a few more times before walking back to shore to change lures. I put on a yellow bellied Zoom horny toad which I’ve had for about a year, but never tried. I also put a bubble gum and white pearl super fluke in my pocket so I wouldn’t have to walk back again to switch lures.

I walked out a bit further this time to cast beyond the weed line. I wasn’t getting any action on the horny toad so I wanted to change lures again, but reeled in too far. Instead of pulling the line out, I decided to cast one more time and reel in to the right length. A few feet in, I thought I felt a couple of ticks, so I paused and set the hook. But then the line didn’t move. I couldn’t budge it. I didn’t know if I could walk all the way out to the weed line, so I pulled hard to get the line loose. I pulled in a mass of weeds. But as I was about to pull it off, I saw a fish hiding in it.

Species: Largemouth Bass
Size: 11.5″
Lure used: yellow/green horny toad

Just a little guy.

For the remaining 20 minutes I had, I switched to both a bubble gum fluke and white pearl fluke and back to the horny toad, but didn’t get another hit.

When I started fishing this afternoon, I thought the time would be a waste. But I learned the right place to shore fish on this lake and I learned that the horny toad can catch fish. So it wasn’t a total loss. But I will be back some day with a float tube.

Related posts:

1. Neighborhood Outing
2. Frustrations Abound
3. Two Days, Two New Lakes
4. New Lake, New Freedom
5. First Open Water Outing of 2010

I don’t think any of us would wantonly throw a tangle of fishing line in the water. But what we probably don’t think about is when we get a line caught in a tree, or stuck on a log. Instead of making an effort to get the lure unstuck, it’s much easier to just cut the line and retie. However, leaving a line dangling can be a danger to wildlife, as Jim’s story illustrates.

I’ve been known to throw a stray cast once in a while, but I always go after my lures–usually for monetary reasons rather than conservationist ones (I’ve been married to my Norwegian wife too long and have picked up her family’s frugal sentiments). But now I’m doubly glad I do.

So the next time you get hung up in a tree or a drowned log, please make a good faith effort to get your lure back. You’ll be doing the local wildlife a favor. And be saving a few bucks to boot.

Read Jim’s post: Appreciate the Hazards of Discarded Fishing Line

Related posts:

1. Keeping a Fishing Log

It appears, that since I’ve become a true avid angler, I’ve lost my mind. Because no one in their right mind would willingly get up at 5:15am in the morning, let alone on a Saturday. But that’s indeed what I did.

I got a call from Mark Friday and he asked if I wanted to go back to Lake Mille Lacs with him. I had been itching to get back since the Minnesota DNR relaxed their walleye restrictions on the lake, so I somehow mustered the will to get up before the early bird even saw a worm. But even I wasn’t the crazy one.

Mark and I had arranged to meet at 5:45am for the 1 1/2 hour drive to the lake. I told him that I would turn on the front porch light (which he can see from his house) if I got up any earlier. At 5:30, I turned on the light, I went to get my shoes, and by the time I got back to the door, Mark’s truck and boat were at the foot of my driveway. It was like he was in the truck just waiting.

By the time we got on the lake, it was 8am. We started at our productive spot from last time outside of Father Hennepin Park. We lindy rigged for about two hours, but all I got was a small perch and the little guy to the left.

We then motored out to the Graveyard where we saw 5 other boats. We lindy rigged for a little while and we kept pulling in small perch. We weren’t seeing any of the other boats catching fish either, so about 15 minutes later, we headed out to a place called “4 Mile” where there is gravel bottom. This was 4 miles out from our boat launch, so Mark recommended I put on my rain gear for the ride. I thought that was overkill, but it wasn’t. I was as wet as if I had been standing out in a steady rainstorm. Fortunately, the weather was warm enough and the wind blowing enough that I was pretty much dried off after about 5 minutes.

We started lindy rigging again and Mark was seeing groups of fish on his fish finder in various places while we were drifting. We had put out a drift sock to prevent us from drifting too fast. It really worked because there was another boat near us and during the 3 or 4 passes we made, they would always drift passed us and have to motor back sooner than we did.

It turned out that the slower drifting paid off because Mark caught two walleye, one about 16″ and the other 19″ within about 15 minutes of arriving at 4 Mile. The conditions were perfect because the sky was overcast and the wind was blowing enough to make 1-2 ft swells. I was getting bites, but I couldn’t pull any of them in. This went on for about 3 hours. The bites ranged from a tap, to a tick, to one bite that I didn’t even feel, but happen to see the rod tip bow twice in quick succession. Each time I felt a bite, the hook would come back vacated of my leech. On one good tap, the leech came back half eaten! I just didn’t wait long enough.

By about 1:30pm, Mark’s fish were the only ones we caught, so we decided to switch species and go after smallmouth bass for a while. It took about 10 minutes to get from 4 Mile to the shallow rocks we hit last time. Going back, we were headed into the wind and we hit the waves hard. Every few seconds I would get doused with water. If it was like I was in a steady rainstorm on the way out, this time it was like I had been standing in a downpour. I was soaked. But again, it didn’t take long for me to dry off.

At the rock pile, I alternated between my spinning reel with a bubble gum fluke and my baitcaster with the green pumpkin jig and pig that I had so much success with last weekend. Unfortunately, the luck from last weekend did not carry over. Mark threw a beetle spinner, chartreuse spinnerbait and a few other lures, but neither of us could even get a nibble. We also worked some of Mark’s other favorite smallmouth spots and even tried a shore that had a ton of grass that was about 3-5 ft deep, but nothing bit.

At about 3:30, we decided to try for walleye one last time before we had to go. We went back to Father Hennepin Park, but tried out further where I caught my 19″ last time. I remembered after I got back from my last trip, that I should have tried casting an orange flat fish that my father-in-law likes for walleye. I was able to try it this time, but it would either hydroplane across the surface or not go very deep. I think the flat fish is designed more for trolling than casting. I gave up after a few casts.

We lindy rigged for about an hour with more bites but no fish in the boat, so we decided it was time to call it a day. On the way back to the boat launch, I asked Mark if we could try casting for smallies at the entrance of the channel to the boat launch. He said we could cast for 5 minutes. About 4 minutes in, Mark dropped a white pearl super fluke at the edge of some grass and the surface exploded. But nothing was at the end of the line to reel in, not even his lure. Only a muskie or northern would have cut the line so quickly. Needless to say, we kept casting.

I tossed my bubble gum fluke for a few casts, switched to my green pumpkin jig and pig, and also tried tossing my chartreuse scum frog into the grass that Mark got his hit, but I didn’t even feel a tick. A little closer to the channel entrance, Mark hooked into a nice sized smallie with his white pearl fluke, but lost it before it got to the boat. By now a half hour had passed and two charter pontoons were headed for the channel, so we had to get going or we would have been in their way.

Overall another disappointing outing on Mille Lacs, but with it’s world class fishery reputation, I’ll never pass at an opportunity to fish it. If I get to fish it again this year, we will likely be driving on it.

Related posts:

1. Not A Single Nibble
2. Mille Lacs Virgin No More
3. First Walleye of 2010
4. Learn Something New Every Day
5. Walleye Frenzy