Journal of a Minnesota Angler

The local weathermen were all in a tizzy the past few days because they were predicting a storm to rival the one that hit us last Dec 11. By 1:30pm, the snow was supposed to be coming down in full force, but it wasn’t snowing that heavily. It was just windy. The snow was falling sideways. But that wasn’t going to deter us true Minnesotans from venturing out to try to catch us some fish. My 3 neighbors and I went out to Lake Owasso for the afternoon to see if we could land some walleyes. When... (more...)

I’ve been itching to get out on the ice since temps took a dive in early December. It got worse when I won a nice tip-up combo from Frabill and the Outdoor Blogger Network. With my brother home for the holidays, I hoped to get my chance. I finally did the day after Christmas. I met my brother and his friend on White Bear Lake off Bellaire Beach. It seemed like the whole town had the same idea we did. There were probably two dozen ice shacks and another dozen or so groups with no shelters. When... (more...)

Date: 6/26/2010 Time: 8:00am-5:30pm Body of water: Lake Mille Lacs Location: Isle, MN Weather Conditions: overcast/sunny, windy I have a confession to make. For the past year, I’ve been lying to you. You see, when you grow up in Minnesota, you can’t officially be known as a Minnesota Angler unless you’ve fished and caught a walleye out of Lake Mille Lacs, the biggest and most well known lake in the state. But I had never fished it… until yesterday. Lake Mille Lacs has a... (more...)

With high temps firmly in the 40s degrees F since last Tuesday and my 2009 fishing license expired as of March 1, my inaugural season of ice fishing seems to have come to a end. Here’s a summary of the cold weather fun: Days fished: 7 Fish caught: 8 (1 perch, 7 crappie) Dec 19: First ice fishing outing Ice 6″ thick First ice fish (perch) Jan 24: First time driving on ice Ice 20″ thick Four of us landed 38 Crappie So other than the day Crappie were nearly jumping out of the holes,... (more...)

When I posted about ice fishing a couple of days ago, I didn’t think I’d be on a lake til at least the new year. But last night we had our neighborhood Christmas party and the topic of ice fishing came up. Several times, actually. It started when a mutual friend of a couple of neighbors was planning to go out in the morning. The two neighbors, Rob and Steve, decided they would go and invited me along. Unfortunately, Mark, my usual fishing buddy, had other commitments and couldn’t... (more...)

When you live in Minnesota, your fishing season is only half that of those in Southern states. That is, unless you are one of the many who turn the handicap into an asset. When the sun gets low in the sky and the weather gets cold, a transformation takes place. Liquid turns to solid and mere mortals can do the impossible. People just like you and me can walk on water. I speak, of course, of lakes turning to ice. And so begins the season of ice fishing. We’re firmly entrenched in the holiday... (more...)