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...)
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...)
When I started writing the drafts for my posts about my trip, I had intended to do a post for each day. As I was reading over them, I realized they were BOR-ing. They were uninteresting because there was no action. I would be bored reading them, so you’d be snoring before you finished the first paragraphs. Therefore, I’m going to summarize the next 4 days of my trip into one sentence: I caught 5 smallies all under 12″ and a northern at 17″. Exciting, I know. I’ve... (more...)
Date: 8/21/2010 Time: 3:30pm – 5:30pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail, MN Weather Conditions: sunny 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. ... (more...)
The scene opens with a view of the lake. A dock is in the foreground, a full moon shining brightly in the night sky. The reflection of the moon paints a path to the dock, empty except for a bench made for two. The sound of a crackling fire can be heard somewhere nearby. The camera pans to the left to find a bonfire on the shore. Two young kids sit enjoying the fire with their parents and grandparents. “Tells us the story again, grandpa,” the young girl exclaims. “Yeah, tell... (more...)
[In honor of Halloween, I thought you might like to hear about a story among our family of a legend on the Gunflint Trail.] Once upon a time, not so long ago, there was a young fisherman who caught his very first walleye in Poplar Lake. He was very excited, but he caught it late in the evening and by the time he got back, it was too dark to clean it. He left it on a stringer tied to the dock. The next morning, at about 7am, he and his father-in-law decided to go fishing again. As the two walked... (more...)
Ken was up at his cabin from Aug 4 to Aug 11. He had some friends up through Aug 9 and he came back with a fishing report. His friend, Eric, caught an 18″ walleye on the channel on the North side of Young’s Island on a small shad rap or fat rap. He said he was about 12′ down. His other friend, Ed, liked to fish with live bait. Ken had trapped some minnows for him and he had it on a hook with a spinner. Being so light, he couldn’t cast it from the boat more than 3 ft and... (more...)
Species: Smallmouth Bass Size: 21″ Lure used: 6″ grape lizard Date: 6/30/2007 Time: sunset Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: [don't remember] This is the story of how I caught my largest smallmouth bass. Ken and I were fishing the bay in front of our favorite fishing hole. It was late June and the mayflies were hatching all around us. Because of it, fish were biting like crazy, but they weren’t hitting us. I remember using a white pearl... (more...)
Species: Smallmouth bass Size: 15″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Species: Northern Pike Size: 18″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Species: Northern Pike Size: 27″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 7/26/2009 Time: 5:30-7:00am Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: overcast I woke up a little after 5am the day we were to leave. Since I had such a fun time getting up early earlier in the week, I was a little torn about whether I should... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 21″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Species: Smallmouth bass Size: 14″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 7/25/2009 Time: 8:30-10:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: windy with storm clouds all around, felt sprinkles but never rained This was our last night at the cabin. Since we still had some leeches, I thought I would try bottom bouncing at Walleye alley while Ken used a Lazy Ike flat fish. We went down... (more...)
