Journal of a Minnesota Angler

Today is my brother’s birthday. He’s a better fisherman than I am (so far) because he has been able to get out a couple of times a week for the past few years. We haven’t been fishing together for a few years now because he lives in Boulder and when he comes back to visit we don’t have that much time to go fishing. But he’s planning to come back for a week this summer and we hope to be able to get out to my dad’s cabin in Northwest Wisconsin and do some serious... (more...)

Now back to our regularly scheduled blog subject… So I’ve been having an internal debate with myself and would like to get the opinion of other anglers. I have been using spinning reels all of my fishing career and had decided last year that it was time to start learning on a baitcast reel. I had heard it was more accurate and more fun to use. But because I am used to spinning reels, I was looking for a left-handed baitcaster. For those of you not familiar, you generally reel with your... (more...)

Ah, the wonders of modern technology. Who says you have to be famous to get on the cover of a magazine? Many of you will recognize the picture below as an avatar for my many social media accounts. Looks much better as a magazine cover, don’t you think? I created this fake magazine cover at MagMyPic.com after The Fisherbabe posted her fake cover. They also have fake covers for non outdoor magazines as well like VAGUE and ROCKSTAR. I think I need to create one for NERD. Share this:FacebookTwitterRedditEmailLike... (more...)

Tami Curtis’s recent post got me thinking about Internet abbreviations/acronyms and what they might mean in the fishing world. Here’s what I came up with (with the real meanings in parentheses in case you didn’t know it): BFF (best friends forever) – Bass Fisherman Forever BRB (be right back) – Bass, Real Big! BTW (by the way) – Bass, Trout, Walleye FTW (for the win) – Fish The Walleye, Fly Tying Wizard IDK (i don’t know) – I Dropped a Keeper IMHO... (more...)

If you read one of my posts earlier this month, you know that I love getting things in the mail. My Lifetime Angling License was exciting, but I paid for it myself. Today I got a true present. A few weeks ago, The Hunter’s Wife was holding a contest for a $50 Dick’s Sporting Goods gift card. I had no expectations that I would win, but I completed the contest steps anyway. After all, you can’t win if you don’t play, right? Well, I won! She had picked a winner on Friday,... (more...)

I hit another milestone today. According to WordPress Stats, as of today I’ve had as many pageviews in 2010 as I did in all of 2009 (beginning in May when I started). So I essentially doubled my traffic in less than half the time. If the trend continues, I should have 100 pageviews by my blog’s anniversary. Woohoo! In the 10 months my blog has been active, I’ve gotten some great comments, met some very interesting people, and have been “published” by the Chicago... (more...)

As I was driving home today, I saw my first open water on a nearby lake. So begins the thaw that gets all anglers itching to get out their boats, kayaks, or float tubes to wet their first line of the season. “Ice out” is defined differently by each person, but is generally the term we Northerners use to indicate that open water fishing season is back. Kayakers and float tubers, especially, jump in the water as soon as there is enough open water to get around. The University of Minnesota... (more...)

As a rookie ice fisherman, I’ve been deferring to my more experienced friends to know when to walk on the ice, use a four-wheeler on the ice, or drive on the ice. If I were to ever go out alone, I would make sure I see a lot of people doing something on the ice before I ever did it. A few days ago, I read an article titled “Extreme Ice Fishing” posted at the Minnesota Bound Outdoor Journal blog. Travis, one of the Minnesota Bound editors, recounted a story of ice fishing on Lake... (more...)

The open water fishing article I posted earlier this week reminded me of a segment I saw on Minnesota Bound last weekend. The host, Ron Schara, introduced a story about Nelson Lake in North Dakota. The lake is used by Minnkota Power to cool its turbines. The water is then returned to the lake at a balmy 62 degrees, so it stays open water all winter long. It looks like a fun place to try to fish some day, especially since it’s known as a largemouth bass lake. It would be kind of weird to... (more...)

I felt my blog was gaining enough steam that it deserved a domain of its very own. So I registered for one and moved my wordpress installation this week. As a result, if you’re subscribed to my blog through Google reader, you may have noticed a redistribution of some old posts. Please be assured that I didn’t repost them, but that Google reader picked them up again after my update. I apologize if there was any confusion. Please update your subscription to follow my new domain: www.journalofamnangler.com.... (more...)