After our crazy adventure in the afternoon, Ken, George, and I headed to the three bays near Liz Lake portage. We started at the Southern most bay and worked our way North. George opted for a propeller topwater and got a hit on his first cast. It was a little bass that shook itself loose before he could get it to the boat. A few minutes later, Ken landed a 10″ walleye on his pinkish fluke. On my bubble gum fluke, I scored a nice 13″ smallie. The first keeper of the night. Species:... (more...)
Lumberjacking Day 2 of our Gunflint Trail weekend turned out to involve even less fishing than day 1, which I didn’t realize until I sat down to write this blog post. You would have thought that so little fishing would have bothered me, but it didn’t because I was having too much fun doing other things. We spent much of the morning and afternoon taking down a couple of 30 ft trees because one of them was growing into the roof of the outhouse. We ended up taking down two trees (and a... (more...)
Instead of spending our usual week up on the Gunflint Trail, we decided to do two four-day weekends this year. The first was on July 4th and our second was this past weekend. We drove up late Friday night, but I was too tired to get up Saturday morning to go fishing. Because we visited the Fisherman’s Picnic in Grand Marais, I didn’t get to wet a line until 4pm. It’s a crime, I know. While the family was swimming, I decided to trek over to the neighbor’s dock where there... (more...)
The wilderness won a battle yesterday thanks to the decision of a Minnesota judge. AT&T will not be allowed to build a 450 foot cell tower in the middle of the BWCA. Instead, it will be a measly 199 feet. AT&T claims the shortened tower will cover 1/16th of the area a taller tower would, but actually, it will only be a 17 percent decrease. Full story: Judge says no to 450-foot cell tower near BWCA, but 199-foot tower OK For years, people have debated whether or not cell service should... (more...)
Sunday, July 3rd was my last day on the Gunflint Trail. My family and I had decided to leave early to avoid traffic and allow me to settle down before I started my new job. But we wouldn’t be leaving til late. That afternoon, Ken and I decided to head to Bearskin Lake where his uncle has a cabin. We had visited with Ken’s aunt and uncle the day before on the way back from replenishing our water supply. His uncle showed off his new (used) pontoon he purchased from a family friend. Ken... (more...)
After an abysmal first day and second morning, Ken and I headed to Walleye Alley in the evening of day 2 to try our luck. I remembered a small bay with lily pads at the end of the alley that felt promising. We started down Walleye Alley and it was very windy. It was perfect conditions to drift with a lindy rig, but I didn’t have enough foresight to bring that set up. So Ken trolled while I cast with a bubble gum fluke. Casting was very difficult due to the windy conditions. My line was... (more...)
Since I had the week off before my new gig, my family and I were able to drive up to my in-law’s cabin a day earlier than we had planned a few months ago. We spent Thursday afternoon and evening leisurely driving up to the Gunflint Trail. We didn’t get to see everything we wanted (stupid state government), but we still enjoyed the drive. It was after dark by the time we arrived, so I wasn’t able to wet a line until the next day. My first day of the July 4th weekend (Friday)... (more...)
As I was tromping through the snow at 10:00pm (I’ll explain why in a minute), I was thinking about all the great adventures I had in 2010. And, naturally, I started to rank them in my head. Some trips well exceeded my expectations, while others could have been much better. But I had fun on all of them. I’ve learned a lot this year and hope to apply those lessons not just in fishing, but in life. So what follows is my top 5 adventures of 2010. Honorable Mention : Winter storm of 2010 I... (more...)
When I asked my father-in-law if he had any good winter traveling stories to tell for the Outdoor Blogger Network/Sportsman Channel blog writing contest, he recounted several. I entered one (I didn’t win), recently wrote about another, but have saved the best for last. When you’ve been a part of a community as long as my in-laws have been a part of the Gunflint Trail, you’re bound to hear stories. And some you’ll become a part of. They inevitably involve a few, if not just... (more...)
If you ask a non-Minnesotan to tell you what they know about Minnesota, they’ll tell you, “it’s cold.” This reputation is so pervasive that when a friend of mine in college landed an internship here in Minneapolis for the summer, he packed sweaters. He had no idea that it gets up to 90+ degrees F in Minnesota in June/July. I think we’re one of the few places in the world that have both wind chills and heat indexes. One of the reasons for our cold reputation is that... (more...)
