Journal of a Minnesota Angler

I was talking to my neighbor, Steve, last Saturday when he said he was going fishing the next day. I asked him if he wanted some company and while my other neighbor, Rob, was going to be on the boat, he kindly allowed me to tag along. We got on the lake at about 7:30am. I ended up in the middle of the boat. Given that my boatmates walleye fishermen using lindy rigs and I cast for bass, my position was a little more difficult than I would have liked, but since I invited myself along, I didn’t... (more...)

I wanted to take a moment to say, “Thank you,” because today, WordPress stats reported that I hit a traffic milestone. Nine days ago, Google Analytics reported the same milestone. When I started this blog a few years ago, a six figure pageview stat seemed an impossible achievement. Who would even care about my adventures? I’m grateful that a few of you do. I never imagined that I would hit this milestone before my 3rd anniversary. And for that, I would like to thank everyone... (more...)

I followed through with my resolution from a few days ago and returned to my first lake of the year with my float tube. I got on the water at about 9:30 and kicked my way down the shore to the right of the swimming beach. Mark and I had caught a few little bass on that shore on a previous trip, but this time I only got a nip or two on worms. I decided to head toward a sunken island a few hundred feet off shore. Before getting on the lake, I thought it would be too far for me to get to, but it... (more...)

After going out to dinner with my family last night and thinking about my post, I decided that I couldn’t let it get into June without wetting a line. When we got home, we took care of a couple of yard items and with about an hour of daylight left, I decided some time fishing was better than no time fishing. I grabbed my gear and darted out to a lake about 5 minutes away. I had fished the lake on a couple of different occasions, but never from shore. There were a couple of guys on the fishing... (more...)

It’s the last day of May and it bothers me that I didn’t publish a single post in April. So I definitely couldn’t let another whole month go without a post. The problem is, I haven’t touched a rod since before ice-out, which was super early this year. The last time I touched a rod was in February! I’m not going to go into the blah-blah-blah about the reasons behind my lack of wet lines. Suffice it to say I hope it changes soon. I hope you’ve been able to... (more...)

With ice out having already occurred on many nearby lakes, you’d think I’d be out on the water tickling my angler itch. Unfortunately, life gets in the way. But to keep at least one or two of the 3 or so regular readers I have left, I want to try to keep posting regularly, even if it’s not about fishing. If you’re one of those 3 regular readers, you know that for the last few years, my family has been raising chickens. Since egg production slows after they get about two... (more...)

Just to show how crazy this Spring has been, the National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office posted the records we have broken (so far) since March 10. In the last 11 days, we’ve broken 8 record highs and 6 maximum lows. And technically, it was still winter as today is the first day of Spring. The metro lakes have already iced out and Northern Minnesota lakes aren’t far behind. I’ve stolen copied the stats and posted them here in case the page goes away some day in the future. Twin... (more...)

It’s that time of year again. The DMZ of fishing seasons, if you will. You can’t be on the ice to ice fish and you can’t be on the lakes because there isn’t enough open water. This year is a little more unusual than previous years. We’ve broken 6 record highs in the last eight days and are on track to break records today and tomorrow. And we didn’t just barely break the records, we’ve been shattering them. Earlier this week, the metro area broke a record... (more...)

Guess what? You won’t believe it. I actually went fishing this weekend! I attended the 4th Annual Meister’s Ice Fishing Get-Together on Saturday that went from 10am-2pm. Meister’s is a local bar and grill. It was the same get-together I attended last year with my neighbors. This year was vastly different than last year. Mainly because the weather has been so uncooperative. Many ice fishing contests were cancelled due to thin ice. Fortunately, this one was late enough in... (more...)

It’s been a crazy winter, or non-winter as the case may be, in Minnesota this year. Unlike last year when we had storm after storm and subzero temps, this year has been mild beyond belief with virtually no snow. Here is how the Minnesota DNR Climatology Office ranks this year’s Twin Cities’ meteorological winter (December-February): Warmest Avg. Temp. 1877-78 29.0 F 1930-31 26.9 F 2001-02 26.8 F 2011-12 26.3 F* *Estimate including average temperature for February Fewest... (more...)