Journal of a Minnesota Angler

Sunday morning I once again got up a little after 6am to be on the lake on my float tube by 6:30. This time I followed the Northern shore toward the channel only until the shore turned. The curve of the shore hid water beyond the curve from the morning sun and I didn’t think it was warming the water enough in that area for fish to want to congregate. I started with the Slurpie worm I had success with the morning before, but nothing bit on my first pass. I then decided to switch to an orange... (more...)

I went to my dad’s cabin in Northwest Wisconsin this weekend and started off the weekend early. I got up at 6:15 Saturday morning to get my float tube in the water by 6:30. Apparently it was too early because when I sat down in my float tube, I went, “Ah!” when water went down the back of my shorts. I had brought my old float tube (due to space constratints) and it sits several inches in the water. That, in combination of forgetting to buckle the shoulder straps of my waders... (more...)

I went to my dad’s place in Northern Wisconsin this weekend to help him pull the dock up. It’s a sign of the change of seasons and marks what will probably be the last open water fishing we’ll do for the season. However, it also means the fishing should be stellar. The fish should be bulking up for the winter. I brought my new toy up to get some of that action. Well, stellar it wasn’t. I was out for 8 hours total and bagged only 4 fish. But I did learn some lessons of... (more...)

I had a lot of trouble with the title of this post. It could have been one of many: Float Tube-tastic Jig and Pig Magic Slump Squashed A Plethora of Firsts Fish Porn Galore But ultimately, I kept with the theme of my previous posts. Date: 7/31/2010 Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm Body of water: Tiger Cat Flowage Location: Hayward, MN Weather Conditions: clear After a good morning and afternoon of fishing, I didn’t know how it could get better, but it did. While we were out on the boat with my... (more...)

Date: 7/31/2010 Time: 4:00pm – 6:00pm Body of water: Tiger Cat Flowage Location: Hayward, MN Weather Conditions: partly cloudy In my last post, you read that we had quit our morning fishing to have lunch and to get our bass boat in the water. The closest boat launch is really close to the cabin, but it puts into another lake in our chain of lakes, so we have to drive the boat through the channel to get back to our dock. I’m usually the one to drive the boat, but since my brother doesn’t... (more...)

Date: 7/31/2010 Time: 7:30am – 11:00am Body of water: Tiger Cat Flowage Location: Hayward, MN Weather Conditions: partly cloudy After my initial success from the night before, I had high hopes the next morning. I woke up at 7:30am and couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to get up. My brother repaired my scum frog before we went to bed, so I cast with that for about a half hour with no bite when my brother came down to the dock. We decided to take my dad’s canoe out on the... (more...)

Date: 7/30/2010 Time: 6:00pm – 7:00pm Body of water: Tiger Cat Flowage Location: Hayward, MN Weather Conditions: partly cloudy As I mentioned in my last post, my brother is in town. He’s here because my aunt, uncle, and cousin from Canada, and cousin from California are visiting. As part of the visit, we all went to my dad’s cabin in Northwest Wisconsin. The family got there first and when I arrived, the first thing I noticed was that lily pads had grown not more than 10 feet... (more...)

As planned, we left Hayward after lunch, so I only got to fish for a little bit this morning. I was on the dock by 6:30 and went in at 8:00 for breakfast. I threw an orange/brown spinnerbait, chartreuse spinnerbait, green/black beetle spinner (which was too light to cast), scum frog, bubble gum fluke, blue booyah jig and pig, large green mimic minnow swimbait (the head was too big and kept bringing in weeds), white pearl fluke, and white spinnerbait. Nothing induced a strike despite the fact... (more...)

Here was my day in a nutshell: got up, fished, ate breakfast, went to town, ate lunch, fished, took down a tree, fished, started up our boat (that had been dormant for two years), fished, ate dinner, and fished. All in all, I probably fished for about 9 hours today. In the morning, from about 7-9am, I threw a bubble gum fluke, white spinnerbait, blue Booyah jig with blue speckled Zoom chunk, texas rigged Slurpie worm, scum frog, and mimic minnow swimbait with spinner. I only got hit once, but it... (more...)