Journal of a Minnesota Angler

Species: Northern Pike Size: 21″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 7/19/2009 Time: 8:00-10:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: Clear with some clouds This night Ken, George, and I headed East to an area of the lake Ken and I had never fished before. We tried a ridge in the middle of the lake where it only got one foot deep, but ranged to 15 ft. After about a half hour, we headed South between two islands and it got to 54 ft not far off the ridge.... (more...)

Date: 7/19/2009 Time: 11:00am-12:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: clear I took my younger sister-in-law and the kids on a joyride on the pontoon in the late morning. We cruised to walleye alley off the shore about 300 ft and down to the public boat landing at the far Western end of the lake. Of course the fishfinder was on, but the only fish we saw was one or two fish in the lane to the boat landing. They were right off the tip of a fallen tree. No fish... (more...)

Date: 7/19/2009 Time: 8-9:30am Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: clear I got up at about 7:30 and decided to head out for a little while before breakfast. By the time I got everything set in the boat, it was 8:00. I didn’t want to start the gas motor because it would be too loud, so I turned the trolling motor up full. I headed for Kloek channel and the trolling motor was taking a while, so I threw out a Rebel crayfish to fish on the way to my destination. I... (more...)

Species: Smallmouth Bass Size: 12″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 7/18/2009 Time: 8:30-10pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: cloudy all day, but cleared out with a few clouds My brother-in-law, George, has done some fishing with friends, but not a lot. He hasn’t fished much with Ken and I, but was intent on doing a good amount of fishing while he was up with us at Ken’s cabin. He came out with Ken and I where we fished the South... (more...)

Date: 7/18/2009 Time: 4:30-6:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: Overcast with some sun, Westerly breeze Water temp: 61 degrees After the scouting we did earlier, a bunch of us decided to try to catch the fish we saw on the fish finder. We went back to the Southern shore and again, we saw lots of fish. Ken was trolling with a deep diving Rapala that got to 15-20 ft. My brother-in-law, George, dropped a jighead with a plastic grub to about 20 ft. My daughter... (more...)

Date: 7/18/2009 Time: 11:30am-12:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: overcast, choppy, Westerly breeze Water temp: 61 degrees Ken and I spent the morning getting the pontoon into the water and decided to take it for a spin. We grabbed a bunch of people for a joyride and headed to the other side of the lake. As we traveled the channel between Kloek Island and Young’s Island, I suggested we check out the Southern shore. The reason was that there’s... (more...)

Date: 7/17/2009 Time: 8:30-9:30pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: mist in the air, good breeze from the West, slight chop, thick clouds We were headed up to Ken’s cabin for a week of fishing and deck building. I took the afternoon off and we were supposed to be on the road by 2pm so I would be able to do some fishing before sundown. We got a late start on our drive up, so I thought it would be too late to get on the lake by the time we got to our destination.... (more...)

I just got back from 9 days at Ken’s cabin. Here was the haul for the week: Fish I caught: Smallmouth bass: 12″, 8″, 10″, 8″, 14″, 15″ Northern Pike: 21″, 19″, 23″, 19″, 21″, 18″, 27″ (!) Fish caught by other fisherman: Smallmouth bass: 14″ and 16″ (brother-in-law), 8″ and 10″ (wife), 14″ (Ken) Northern Pike: 16″ (wife), 20″ (brother-in-law), 16″ (Ken) Other: Turtle... (more...)

In most human pursuits, people are always looking for the Holy Grail: the system to beat the house at the casino, the club that takes strokes off your golf score, or the pill that helps you lose weight without exercise. Fishing is no different. In fishing, the Holy Grail is in the form of a lure or bait. I used to still fish with a bobber and live bait when I was a kid. Since I picked up fishing again about 9 years ago, I turned into an artificial lure fisherman. I’ve used all kinds of... (more...)

While this isn’t related to fishing, walleye was a VERY integral part of the festivities, so I thought you might like to see… Our neighborhood held our first ever wild game feast. Everybody brought wild game to share and we had plenty of food, so it was definitely a feast. Hopefully, this will become an annual event. Boiling oil Buffalo Breaded pheasant Beer battered pheasant Moose meatballs Venison Italian and Polish sausage Hossenfeffer in red wine and onion sauce over rice Wild... (more...)