My brother came into town Wednesday night and even though he spent 8 hours at his home airport waiting to fly in, his friend and I decided he should get up at 7am the next morning so we could all go fishing. We all met at my dad’s house where he was staying at 7:30am. Due to various complications, and a half hour drive to a new lake suggested by my brother’s friend, we didn’t get on the water til almost 9:30. We spent 3 1/2 hours on the water trying about a dozen different lures... (more...)
I was out on the boat with Mark, casting for bass when I decided to take a rest and put my rod down. I had left the line long enough for the small, blue rattling Rapala to hang over the bow of the fishing boat and into the water. It was late in the evening and the angle of the sun going down on the horizon put a spotlight on the surface of the water right next to some lily pads not more than a few feet from the boat. A few inches under the surface of the water, I could plainly see the back of... (more...)
The Sportsman Channel held their Hunt.Fish.Feed event in Milwaukee today. It was their 7th event this year. In the article by the Milwaukee City Buzz Examiner, the Examiner posted videos from the first event in Las Vegas, and one held here in the Twin Cities. See if you can find me in the video. The Twin Cities event was unique because it was run in conjunction with Fishapalooza 2010 on Forest Lake. The tournament anglers donated their catch to the Hunt.Fish.Feed event that was held in St. Paul... (more...)
Today I had the pleasure of fishing with my buddy, Dan, who was present when I caught the biggest fish of my life. We didn’t have a boat and given all the hot weather lately, we thought our best luck for catching any fish would be in the Mississippi River. We thought the lake fish would be in deeper water that we wouldn’t be able to cast to. We decided to meet at Hidden Falls Park in St. Paul at 8:30am, but when I got there, the park was blocked off with barricades. It turns out there... (more...)
Something significant took effect here in Minnesota today. The Minnesota DNR relaxed their restrictions on the size of walleye that can be taken from Lake Mille Lacs. When the season opened, any fish between 18″ and 28″ had to be released. As of today, the limit is now 20″ to 28″. Apparently, the harvest from the lake has only been half of what is expected, so the restriction was relaxed. Two inches may not sound like much, but it’s a pretty big deal. On my recent... (more...)
A friend of mine that grew up here in Minnesota, but now lives in North Carolina sent this to me. It appears to have been making the rounds on the Internet for a while. However, I saw a wooden plaque with the same conversation at a local mom-and-pop restaurant, so it must have been around long before the Internet. If you don’t speak Minnesotan, let me know and I’ll post a translation in a few days. Ven Two Minnesoatins Meet Oop Nort On Da Lake Fichen! “Haydair.” “Lobuddy” “Benearlong?” “Cupalhours.” “Crieps,... (more...)
In all my years of fishing I’ve been lucky to have never had a hook break my skin in any part of my body. Others haven’t been so lucky. If you’ve done any amount of fishing, you know the technique to use if a hook goes into your skin beyond the barb: push it through past the barb, cut it off with a pair of pliers, then pull the hook out. However, Billy Chapman of Angler’s Inn International did a great video to show an alternative method for removing hooks. I’m skeptical... (more...)
As I mentioned in my review, the fine folks at SmarShield Sunscreen are providing a free bottle of sunscreen lotion to one of my lucky readers. They left the contest up to me and I’ve been trying to think of a clever contest to give it away. But then I realized I was overthinking it. So here is the only rule: You get one entry into the contest for every mention of this contest on the web. That includes Twitter, Facebook, your own blog, forums, and whatever else you can think of. For each... (more...)
Date: 7/5/2010 Time: 8:00am-10:30am Body of water: Bennett Lake Location: Roseville, MN Weather Conditions: sunny I defied my urge to sleep in yesterday morning by getting up at 7:30am to go fishing. For the second day in a row, I tried a lake I had never fished before. This time, I ventured to the 22 acre lake about 5 minutes from my house. I started at the pier where there was another guy going after carp. The water was so stained, you could barely see six inches below the surface of the water.... (more...)
Date: 7/4/2010 Time: 6:45pm-8:45pm Body of water: Lake Demontreville Location: Lake Elmo, MN Weather Conditions: overcast with threat of rain I took off for a new lake last night with my rod and reel, tackle, camera, a towel, swimming suit, and swim shoes. The Minnesota DNR lake map didn’t show a pier, so I decided to take Sybil Smith’s advice (bullet #9) and not be tied just to the shore. I intended to do some wading. Surprisingly, it gave me a lot more freedom than I expected. When... (more...)
