Journal of a Minnesota Angler

A few weeks ago, the folks at SmartShield contacted me and asked me to do a review of their sunscreen. While sunscreen isn’t what you think of first when getting gear together to go fishing, it is one of the most important. So I agreed. They sent me a free bottle in the mail last week. Unfortunately, I got my bottle a week too late. If I had received it earlier, I could have brought it with me to Cincinnati and really put it to the test. That week was my first major exposure to ultraviolet... (more...)

I’ve met some really cool, interesting people since I started my fishing blog a year ago. One of them is the WalleyeGuy. He approached me about guest posting a few weeks ago and having seen the quality of his other guest posts, I had no hesitation in agreeing. If you’re a frequent reader of mine, you know that I just started learning about lindy rigs last year and have had very little success with them so far. My first real success of the technique was this weekend. However, I know... (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...)

One year ago today, I published my first post. Later that day, I got my first 5 visitors. Twelve months later, my traffic has increased more than I could have hoped, the Chicago Sun Times on-line edition has picked up eight of my posts (not including their smaller suburban affiliates), and I signed a contract with an advertiser. It’s been an amazing year. I have had a lot of fun sharing my stories. Thank you for reading this year and a special thank you to those who return time and again.... (more...)

No, it’s not a new radio station. It stands for “No Time For Fishing.” I was in Cincinnati last week helping my sister-in-law and brother-in-law with a deck raising. We built the super structure of a deck that will eventually be three levels and nearly 1000 square feet in size. Unfortunately, we worked so hard on the deck, I never got a chance to go fishing. It’s just as well as it rained quite a bit while we were there and I heard that the river that was nearby was flowing... (more...)

I stumbled upon an article by Art Holden at the Daily Record via TBrinks’ blog post. It’s good advice that applies not just to fishing, but to most things in life: Keep it simple and Stay with what you know Too often we anglers jump on the latest lure or technology that the pros are using to make millions of dollars on the tournament scene. But if you’re not familiar with the lure or the technology, you might as well be throwing an empty hook into a swamp. I’ve been criticized... (more...)

As kids, all of us are taught that we need to set the hook as soon as you feel a fish bite (or see the bobber go under). This mainly comes from fishing for pan fish because they are able to grab a worm or piece of corn off the hook in a split second. For years now, I’ve been fishing with texas rigged plastics. With this type of rigging, if you set the hook as soon as you feel a bite, all you’ll catch is disappointment. Some people will tell you to wait 2 seconds after you feel a hit.... (more...)

Date: 6/6/2010 Time: 8:00-11:00am Body of water: White Bear Lake Location: White Bear Lake, MN Weather Conditions: overcast, windy My phone rang at 7am Sunday morning. “Hello, ” I said groggily, knowing full well who was on the other end. “Let’s go!” It was Mark. Saturday, after our outing, I asked him if he was going out Sunday. He said to have my phone close by. Frankly, I didn’t think he would go that morning. Saturday night I had gotten all my stuff ready... (more...)

Species: Walleye Size: 8″ Lure used: Lindy rig with leech Date: 6/5/2010 Time: 5:00-8:30pm Body of water: Bald Eagle Lake Location: White Bear Lake, MN Weather Conditions: overcast and rainy turned to partly cloudy Mark, Steve, and I headed to Bald Eagle Lake this evening to try our luck at some lindy rigging. We got on the lake at about 5:00pm and started on a rock pile South of the island. Mark put on a nightcrawler, Steve used a minnow, and I had on a leech. We figured we’d try... (more...)

As I was considering my options for hitting the water this weekend, I had my eyes set on a small 22 acre lake not far from my house. The Minnesota DNR web site showed a 36″ Northern in it from their survey a few years ago. It shouldn’t be too hard to find her when the lake’s deepest point is 9 feet, right? We’ll see. I was also going to ping Mark to see if he was going to take his boat out this weekend. I’ve been itching to hone my lindy rigging skills at the lake... (more...)