Journal of a Minnesota Angler

Thursday morning, Ken allowed us to sleep in and didn’t request that we be roofing until 8. We spent three hours on the roof and finished everything but the caps. Ken didn’t expect us to get nearly this far, so he was happy with our progress. At about 2:30, nothing much was happening, so I decided to try casting off the pontoon at the end of the dock again. Since the dock bass seem to like the watermelon Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw, I put that on my baitcaster to get some more casting... (more...)

I found it amazing that I had been at my in-laws a little over 24 hours and already had a week tally of fish nearly in double digits. Fishing has been good there before, but not this good. I’m not sure if it was due to the fish, the weather, or the honing of my techniques. Whatever the reason, I wasn’t complaining. Day 3 was July 4th. We were looking forward to getting a bunch of work done and possibly visit Grand Marais for fireworks that night. Ken wanted to get an early start... (more...)

After dinner, Ken, George, and I headed back out on the pontoon. With such success landing smallies, I decided it was time to try targeting a different species. Given my recent fun with lindy rigs, I was anxious to try to land a nice walleye with a similar technique on Ken’s lake. When I first started coming to the Gunflint, Ken always took me trolling. He seems most comfortable fishing this way. I thought I would get him back into his comfort zone by trolling for walleye. However, lindy... (more...)

After I had gotten back from float tubing, everyone was pretty much out of the water. Ken and George were now ready to take the pontoon out and hit some spots before dinner. We decided to Kloek channel because it had some shady areas for fish to hide from the cloudless sky. Having been successful with KVD’s worm earlier that morning and afternoon, I tossed it out again and got a hit in short order. Ken asked if I needed a net, but it was small enough that I could handle it. It turned out... (more...)

The morning after we arrived, I got up at 7am to see if Ken wanted to head out for an hour or two. He said he couldn’t, but got his fishing boat setup for me to go on my own. I didn’t think I had much time, so I opted to stay close. I puttered my way via trolling motor to the West end of Kloek channel where I’ve previously had success. There always seems to be a couple of bass holding in the area. In order to prevent a skunk, I started with my go-to lure in bubble gum. It paid... (more...)

My family and I headed to my in-laws’ cabin on the Gunflint Trail for July 4th week. It was a working vacation as we were helping my father-in-law put a new roof on his cabin as well as get some R&R. We drove up casually Monday afternoon and arrived a bit after 7pm. The rest of the family arrived the day before including my brother-in-law, George. Clouds were looming when we got there so we listened intently to the radio for a weather report to see if Ken, George, and I could hit the... (more...)

Last Saturday, during a neighborhood bonfire, Mark suggested we do a fish fry. I arrived late and by the time I got there, the plans were in full force. Mark, Steve, Rob, and I decided we would try to add to the fish fry by trying our luck Sunday morning. We made an appointment for 6:30. I got up a little early and Mark and I headed out first. We got on the water about 15 minutes ahead of Steve and Rob. We first headed to a new spot (at least to me) on a familiar lake. Unlike our previous outing,... (more...)

If you’re a regular reader here, you know that my brother, Vince, lives in Boulder and is also an avid angler. Regular readers also know he is a much better fisherman than I am. Since my last year has been pretty sparse with posts, he helped me out by doing a guest post a few months ago. I think he enjoyed writing about his adventure, because he recently took the plunge and started his own blog. So I would like to introduce… A Fishing Journey. Vince’s writing style is very similar... (more...)

So ends year #3. Since my last bloggaversary, my activity has slowed down due to my new job, but recently it’s been picking up again. I couldn’t believe I didn’t pick up a rod and reel until almost June this year, but since then I’ve been on 4 more outings (one hasn’t been posted yet). I’m hoping the trend continues as we head into July. And I’m hoping to show you some better fish porn as a result. As is tradition on my anniversary, I would like to thank... (more...)

My brother-in-law, George, had planned to come in to town on Father’s Day weekend so that he, his childhood friend, Greg, our father-in-law, Ken, and myself could all go fishing on Greg’s boat. A few days before he was due to arrive, we found out George couldn’t get the time off he wanted, so we couldn’t go. I sent a text to Greg to see if he wanted to go anyway. He replied that he was heading to his cabin instead, but that we could head out some evening the following week.... (more...)