Journal of a Minnesota Angler

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: Smallmouth bass
Size: 13″
Lure used: Bubble gum super fluke

We were happy that in the first 15 minutes or so, we all had a fish.

Things got quiet after that, so we puttered toward the portage and hit the shore that went from the portage to the bay we were just in. That turned out to be a poor decision because none of us got any action.

We then motored to the second bay, but again, nothing for any of us.

By now it was getting dark, but we decided to try the last bay. The last bay is more like an L that is somewhat sheltered from the main lake by an island. Ken and I had landed fish there before. In fact, I got my first fish of a jig in this lake in this spot.

Since I had boated a fish already, I decided to practice another technique. I switched to a wacky rigged Big Bite Baits 5″ trick stick in Crawfish Orange Swirl. The color is more natural than it sounds.

In order not to get snagged, I concentrated on deeper water (about 12 ft deep) about 100 ft off shore. On one cast, I felt some resistance, but was hesitant to set the hook because of so many snags the few days before. By the time I felt movement on the line and made my move, I yanked up an empty hook that nearly took my eye out. At times I’m amazed how fish can take bait off hooks without fingers.

A few casts later, I dropped the worm near the crook of the shore where it makes an ‘L’. I felt some resistance and was again a little chicken, but set the hook anyway. It took a few seconds before my fears were calmed and it started to fight back. Then something told me I needed a net for this one. I said calmly, “can I get some help, please.”

The animal on the other end of my line came in slowly and after what felt like minutes, a net hadn’t yet appeared. When I got it close to the boat, it made a run. I asked again, a little more urgently, “I could use a little help.” About an hour later (ok, it only felt like that), I got it closer to the boat and it made another run under the boat. My rod was bent past the ‘u’ shape. I didn’t hold back this time. “Help, please!”

Finally Ken appeared with a net and knelt on the deck next to me. It was a few more minutes before we finally got it in the net. And it was a fatty! I used my fingers to guesstimate its length and it came in at 17-18″.

It was getting pretty dark and the skeeters were starting to get bad, but I was given a few more casts. On my second cast, my worm landed near a rock wall next to a small pile of lily pads. I thought it was too shallow, so I reeled in a few feet and let it fall. Resistance, set, FISH ON! This one jumped twice on its way in and I managed to keep it on the line. It didn’t feel as big as the previous one, but it turned out to be another nice sized one. Comparing it to the previous one, it looked to be about 16-17″. That was a good way to end the night so we headed in.

It wasn’t until the next morning that we were able to put a tape measure to all three fish. They came in at 13″, 16″, and 14.5″. I was amazed because this 16″ looked just as big as the 18-incher I caught in the metro. I guess it was just fat. The most disappointing part was that I didn’t meet the requirements to add to my bag at the Basspastor Minnesocold Bass Bloggers Derby.

Species: Smallmouth bass
Size: 16″
Lure used: Wacky rigged Big Bite Baits 5″ trick stick in crawfish orange swirl

Species: (on the left) Smallmouth bass
Size: 14.5″
Lure used: Wacky rigged Big Bite Baits 5″ trick stick in crawfish orange swirl

The next morning was my last for the weekend. My wife was looking for a couple more pounds of northern for her pickled northern, so I trolled with a 5 of diamonds. I went around Young’s Island and was planning to head around Kloek Island, but shortly after turning the corner of Young’s Island to the main lake, I realized it was too windy to keep going. After getting past Young’s Island with no hits, I headed toward Voyager’s Bay.

As I rounded the corner to the entrance of the bay, I got thumped. It was a 19″ northern.

Species: Northern Pike
Size: 19″
Lure used: Trolling with a 5 of Diamonds

I proceeded into the bay and unsuccessfully tried to resist wacky worming in the bay. The wacky worm got nothing. I went back to trolling with the 5 of diamonds and followed the North shore. I got a hit halfway down and to my surprise, it was a small smallie. It came off before I got it to the boat.

I trolled out of the Voyager’s Bay area and headed home and got another hit in front of the resort down the shore from my in-laws’ place. On the way in, it hit the surface and got loose. It looked like another small smallie. I was disappointed because there were two sets of people on two docks at the resort watching me. It would have been nice to pull one in in front of them.

That was the end of the last outing of the trip. A fairly decent weekend. I’ll definitely be wacky rigging on that lake again in the future.