Ken was up at his cabin from Aug 4 to Aug 11. He had some friends up through Aug 9 and he came back with a fishing report. His friend, Eric, caught an 18″ walleye on the channel on the North side of Young’s Island on a small shad rap or fat rap. He said he was about 12′ down. His other friend, Ed, liked to fish with live bait. Ken had trapped some minnows for him and he had it on a hook with a spinner. Being so light, he couldn’t cast it from the boat more than 3 ft and... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 20″ Lure used: orange and yellow spinnerbait Date: 8/15/2009 Time: 10:30am-1:30pm Body of water: Lake Elmo Location: Lake Elmo, MN Weather Conditions: overcast with a spattering of light rain I live in a pretty close-knit neighborhood. We get together for holidays, random barbecues, and we do a camping trip every year to a local campground. This year, we were in Lake Elmo Regional Park. You may have learned earlier that Mark and I started fishing together after... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 36″ Lure used: Coca-cola colored (and branded) rattlin’ Rapala Date: Summer, 2002 Time: approx. 11am – 3pm Body of water: secret lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: [don’t remember] I had been going up to Ken’s cabin for a couple of years and we had always only fished his lake, Poplar Lake. One day we got a visit from Ken’s sister and niece, my aunt-in-law and cousin-in-law, if you will. They mentioned a small lake a... (more...)
Species: Smallmouth bass Size: 15″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Species: Northern Pike Size: 18″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Species: Northern Pike Size: 27″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 7/26/2009 Time: 5:30-7:00am Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: overcast I woke up a little after 5am the day we were to leave. Since I had such a fun time getting up early earlier in the week, I was a little torn about whether I should... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 19″ Lure used: bubble gum super fluke Date: 7/23/2009 Time: 8:00-10:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: overcast, no breeze George had gone home earlier in the morning, so it was just Ken and I for the rest of the week. We decided it was time to go after the bass I missed the day before. Before getting into THE spot, we cast along the North shore. We had just passed a short dock and I cast behind us toward a fallen log.... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 23″ Lure used: bubble gum super fluke Date: 7/22/2009 Time: 5-6:15pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: clear with some clouds, thunderhead to the North After a hard day’s work building a raised walkway for the cabin, we workers decided we deserved a pontoon ride. Ken, George, George’s wife, my kids, and I took off and decided to check out walleye alley again. On the way, I noticed a channel we usually blow by.... (more...)
Species: Northern Pike Size: 19″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 7/21/2009 Time: 8:30-9:30pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: calm, slight breeze, clear with few clouds Ken, George, and I hopped in the fishing boat and headed for the channel across the bay. We rounded an unnamed island and fished going West. At West end of the unnamed island that forms the channel with Kloek island, I got a nibble on my white pearl super fluke, but the fish... (more...)
Date: 7/21/2009 Time: 11:30am-2:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: overcast with light rain on and off When Ken was out with the kids the night before, he stumbled upon a school of fish that numbered in the dozens. He said fish were appearing everywhere on the fishfinder. Ken, George, George’s wife, and I decided to go out to see if we could find that school. Ken said he saw the school a few hundred feet off the South shore of Young’s Island.... (more...)
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: 7/18/2009 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...)
