Journal of a Minnesota Angler

On our way up to my father-in-law’s cabin, Mrs. MNAngler and I decided to look for the MN DNR Fishery that is on Hwy 61 on the North Shore of Lake Superior. We hadn’t been there in years and thought the kids might like it. We found it not far up the scenic route between Duluth and Two Harbors. The French River hatchery sits next to the MN DNR Area Headquarters and raises Rainbow Trout for release into regional lakes and streams. They trap Rainbows going up stream to spawn and harvest... (more...)

After failing miserably as a spin casting river trout fisherman, I decided it was time to try being a full-fledged river trout fisherman. That would mean picking up fly rod. Brenda and my cousin left our reunion to meet up with some friends on the East coast, so on this outing it was me, Vince, my dad, and one of my other cousins, Julie. Julie’s mom came along for the ride so she could take pictures (of scenery). Vince had his own gear, but the rest of us rented fly rods, waders, and boots.... (more...)

I spent last week in Sunriver, OR attending a family reunion. Vince (my brother) attended as well and we, of course, had to do some fishing. The problem was, I’m a bass fisherman. And a lake bass fisherman at that. And the only thing around us was rivers. So I had to buck up and pretend I was something I am not: a trout fisherman. I had packed a spinning rod in the hopes of getting to some sort of bass haven, but in our first available day of getting out, we only had about three hours.... (more...)

On day two of my trip to Boulder, my brother wanted to take me trout fishing since I had never been. I’ve never really fly fished, so he brought me to a lake in the mountains where I could use a spinning reel to try my luck. We had ventured up mid-morning, so we couldn’t find a parking spot at the foot of our hiking trail to the lake. We unloaded our gear and my brother parked his car down the road and walked back up to where I was waiting from him. Just as we were getting stuff on... (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...)

Date: 7/18/2009 Time: 11:30am-12:00pm Body of water: Poplar Lake Location: Gunflint Trail Weather Conditions: overcast, choppy, Westerly breeze Water temp: 61 degrees Ken and I spent the morning getting the pontoon into the water and decided to take it for a spin. We grabbed a bunch of people for a joyride and headed to the other side of the lake. As we traveled the channel between Kloek Island and Young’s Island, I suggested we check out the Southern shore. The reason was that there’s... (more...)

Species: Smallmouth Bass Size: 13″ Lure used: white pearl super fluke Date: 5/23/2009 Time: 1-4pm Body of water: West Bearskin Lake Location: Gunflint Trail, 30 mi North of Grand Marais, MN Weather Conditions: sunny My father-in-law, Ken, and I decided to head to a nearby lake to try for some smallmouth and lake trout. A few summers ago, we were in the Southwest arm and got so many hits on super flukes that we lost count about how many we caught. The problem was, they were all under 10″,... (more...)