Take A Kid Fishing...Or Fish Like a Kid

October in the Northland

I had a couple great fishing trips at the end of October.  This is because I love shore fishing.  It is so hassle-free.  No boats, boat motors, boat trailers, etc.  Just a backpack with your gear and lunch and a rod with a bobber on it.  Of course, being willing to get off the beaten path and knowing when to fish and what to fish with helps increase the fun.

This time of year I try to fish designated stream trout lakes.  These are typically small bodies of water that do not have naturally viable fisheries.  The DNR poisons out the native fish (usually just tiny perch or suckers) and stocks them with hatchery raised rainbow, brook, and brown trout as well as splake (a cross between a lake trout and a a brook trout).  Often, because these lakes are small, trails have been created around them by shore anglers.  The fish are usually tight to shore in October, so no canoe or boat is necessary.  Just a note - the season for lake trout and stream trout in streams closes on September 30.  Only stream trout in designated lakes are open in October.

The second to last weekend in October my sister and her family came up for a visit.  Her 10 year old son has really gotten into fishing and he had asked me to take him.  At least I think he is 10.  I should really start to pay attention when people are talking to me.  Either way, when they arrived on Friday night, the forecast for Saturday was not good - snow, rain, cold, and wind.  My nephew and his dad discussed it and we decided to try anyway.  So on Saturday morning at daybreak the three of us were headed north looking for trout.  We took a few back roads and found some snow on the ground in spots, but when we arrived at our destination lake, the sun was hinting at coming out and there was no wind, so the cold didn't feel too bad.  We grabbed our gear and our secret trout baits and hit the trail to the first shore fishing spot.  It didn't take long for me to lose a nice fish after it leaped to shake the hook - that was a good sign.  Soon we were all getting bites steadily.  We caught a bunch of rainbows and splake and several of them were keepers (around 13" or larger).  

We decided to move on to the next shore fishing spot after a bit.  It was a decent hike through the brushy forest.  The fishing was slow at first and we began to wonder if we should have moved.  No sooner had the thought crossed our minds when the bobbers started going down and the fish started fighting. The young nephew did most of the damage and he caught several more keepers, including a couple over 16".  It was a steady mix of splake and rainbows.  After a while, the weather finally turned.  The wind picked up, the clouds thickened and it start to spit a little snow and rain.  We took the cue and packed our gear for the hike back with our catch.  

On the drive home, we ran into sun, rain, snow, and wind-all mixed up - kind of a goofy day.  Back in Duluth we filleted the fish (I had gutted and gilled them at the lake) and like conquering heroes, before long we had a fish feast cooked up for the whole gang.  It was a fun day.

On the next weekend in October, I had a meeting up north on Friday.   So I packed the camping and fishing gear and headed to my favorite stream trout lakes after the meeting.  I set up my winter camping tent and wood stove in a pull off away from any lakes because the wind was blowing quite strong.  It was good to get the canvas tent up and some wood stacked near the stove.  I had just a sliver of daylight left after setting up camp and the winds had calmed a bit so I cruised over to a nearby designated trout lake.  I immediately caught a couple splake, but they were on the small side.  Right when it was getting too dark to see my bobber it went down again - and this fish was not on the small side.  After a good battle on my ultra-light rod and reel, I landed a dandy 20" splake.  A great way to end the day.  The tent warmed quickly with the wood heat and I relaxed after a supper of sausage and rice.  I listened to a book on the ipod and hit the hay fairly late.  It started raining a freezing rain as I was falling asleep.  

I woke to a strong breeze and a light dusting of snow.  I took my time eating breakfast and packing my gear.  I headed to a nearby lake and started making my way through the woods to its far shore.  I picked a spot on a mid-lake point to fish and had missed a few bites when my buddy the Captain showed up behind me.  He had left Duluth that morning (we had planned to meet at this spot).  Of course, he stepped in and quickly caught a nice rainbow trout, but only one.  After a while we went further down the shore to another spot. The move paid off as I caught two nice eater rainbows.  We gave it a good while, but that spot slowed down as well, so we made our way back to the shore near the road, where we caught some small splake and one more keeper rainbow.  We finally headed back to the tent and wood stove after dark.  The fire quickly allowed us to shed our heavier clothes and we enjoyed sausage and mashed potatoes.  We caught up after supper as we hadn't fished together for a while.  It was another nice evening.  

On Sunday the Captain quickly took down his tent and hit the road to another lake.  I took a little longer to get the big tent and wood stove loaded in my truck, but I was at the same lake before too long.  He had gone around to a far point, but I chose to fish near the road. I immediately caught a keeper splake and then tied into a larger one.  It was 20" and was decked out in fall spawning colors - it thought it was a brook trout, not a splake.  Slightly hooked lower jaw, orange belly, white tipped fins.  The prettiest fish I have caught in a while.  The fish kept biting and I quickly finished out my limit.  I caught a few more rainbows for fun and then joined the Captain at another spot near a trail.  He had also done well shorefishing - three really nice rainbows, including a 20" fish that put up a huge battle.  We fished together for a while but the wind had switched and our nice morning was turning into a damp, cool afternoon and the fishing slowed, so I hit the road to Duluth.  It was a very good little trip.

So, the last two weekends of the open water season actually turned out to be the best fishing of the entire year for me.  Persistence pays off.

Nature Moment: Fall weather can be unpredictable.  I remember a lot of October days when it would switch from sun to rain to snow to sun to clouds and all over again in one hour cycles.  On the way home with my brother-in-law and nephew, we saw one of the weirdest weather events I have ever seen.  As we cruised down the highway before Two Harbors, we spotted a snowplow.  There was no snow to speak of, so that was odd.  Just then we came around a curve to find a little bit of snow on the road, and then it quickly became quite a bit of snow - around four inches of heavy wet stuff.  Just as quickly, we drove out of the fallen snow and were soon on a dry highway.  I bet the band of heavy snow was only 1 to 2 miles wide.  The entire rest of the trip was dry, just that one tiny band of deeper snow was it.  I found it quite odd.

Hubs' Flub: Man, did I lose a lot of fish on these last two trips.  Some of it was because I wasn't paying attention to my bobber when I was assisting others, but most it was because- well, I just wasn't paying attention to my bobber.  Multiple times I heard a splashing out on the lake and looked up to discover my bobber down and a trout trying to drag my rod and reel into the lake.  Usually by the time I got a hold of the rod, the fish had already spit the hook.  Oh well, I still caught plenty of fish.

Quote of the Trip: My sister told me that when my nephew went to bed on the day we fished she asked if he had a good day, and he replied, "No, it was an awesome day."  

You're damn right it was, pal.  

A New Adventure - The True North Shore

Lake Superior's Canadian Islands

I had a pretty good adventure last weekend.  The Chief and The Colonel joined me in a truck pulling an 18 foot deep v Starcraft runabout on Highway 61 headed northeast early on Thursday morning.  We picked up a few things in Grand Marais and went across the border into Canada with no customs issues.  After a few more stops we arrived on Lake Superior's true north shore...Nipigon Bay.  This area of the big lake is studded with large and small islands, bays, reefs, and inlets.  It offers quite a bit of protection for smaller boats.  Still it is Lake Superior and we would need to be cautious and paying attention.  

We had made a connection with local resident over the phone and so we stopped into he and his wife's nice residence on a bay.  He was nice enough to point out a protected campsite well away from town as well as some fishing advice.  They were both very pleasant and we chatted quite a while.  After a bit, we headed over to the public access and loaded the boat.  We had lot of stuff.  Three people, three packs of tents, sleeping gear, and clothes, three coolers of food and refreshments, and lots of gasoline.  It piled up quickly, but the Starcraft fit it all in.  

The outboard fired right up, we backed out of the harbor, and headed out onto Nipigon Bay.  It was a little rough and the old 85hp Evinrude was working hard to move the heavy load, we had just hit cruising speed when the motor suddenly throttled down.  The Colonel, the boat's owner, said he hadn't moved the throttle, he had just lost power.  The motor sputtered a bit and died completely.  It failed to restart.  We were about a mile from the landing.  We all monkeyed with the engine...it seemed to be a gas problem.  A local fellow in a fishing boat thoughtfully came to our aid.  He waited until we got the 9.9hp kicker motor started and saw that we would make it back to the dock.  We thought maybe there was some water in the gas tank (it is a boat after all), so the Chief went to check if he had a bottle of isopropyl alcohol in his truck.  He didn't, but he did come back with the fellow we had chatted with earlier, and he had something even better, a full can of Sea Foam.  It is a concoction that apparently has powers that will address water in a gas tank, as long as it isn't too much.   We dumped the whole bottle in.  We tried restarting the motor, and we could keep it going as long as I kept squeezing the fuel bulb.  After a bit it started running on its own and we headed out again, thankful for the sea foam.  Unfortunately, the motor died again, just about the same spot it did last time-but this time it restarted right away.  We moved on-it seemed as though it was working through the bad gas.  It sputtered a few more times, but was getting better the further we went.  So we pressed on to the desired campsite.  It was a nice one on a protected channel with deep water nearby that looked good for trout.  It was near the big open area of Lake Superior, but not exposed to it.  After the delays, we didn't have time to get out fishing, but I did throw out a salted cisco from shore hoping for a passing fish.  We toasted our first day and enjoyed a pleasant, crisp evening.  The Colonel whipped up some of his own traditional German potato sausage (a ring of pork, sauerkraut, potatoes, and special spices) and some sauteed brussel sprouts.  It was fantastic.  He sure is handy in the kitchen.  We chatted well into the night before turning in.  

The next morning we didn't exactly wake up at the crack of dawn and a stiff south wind was building.  South winds are the worst for this area on the north shore of the world's largest lake.  I threw out my shorefishing rig as we ate breakfast and I soon heard my little bell ring on the pole.  I hustled down to the shore and saw the line was screaming off of the reel.  Before I even grabbed the rod I heard the fish leap out of the water and splash loudly...this was going to be a big salmon or steelhead.  But, it was not to be...the fish threw the hook when it leaped.  Shucks.  Still, it was a good sign for fishing, right?

Not exactly.  The wind forced us to troll only in the two adjacent bays.  They looked like good lake trout water, but it was not fast action.  The Chief had a heavy fish on right away, but it also got away.  He then caught a very small lake trout.  That was it for action until the very end of the afternoon.  As we headed back on our final trolling run back to camp, my favorite orange spoon, fished deep on a downrigger, triggered a strike.  Soon a nice (4-5lb) lake trout was flopping in the net and a supper was secured just in time.  As we headed back to camp, we spotted the fella from town in his 14 foot boat.  He was much braver than I...I would not have been out in that small boat in that high of seas...but he has a lot more experience.  He had been out fishing and stopped by to check on us.  We had a cold beer on shore and traded stories.  His stories of moose and deer hunting on the islands were particularly interesting.  He went on his way before the winds worsened.  

We enjoyed the fish in one of our favorite dishes, coconut thai rice.  It is super easy to make...sauteed onions and bell peppers, coconut milk, green curry paste, with lake trout chunks and fresh basil.  We put a lot more coconut milk in than most recipes call for so the trout can cook up nicely in the sauce.  Once again, it was fantastic.  We got to bed a bit earlier.  The forecast called for even stronger south winds the next day.

The forecast did not disappoint.  It was very windy on Saturday.  Twenty-five knots straight off the biggest part of Lake Superior.  We could see huge rolling breakers on each end of our channel.  Fishing would be restricted to our bay.  We tried shorefishing for quite a while with no luck.  We headed out in the boat and even the bay was pretty rough.  We got bounced around and we had no bites.  Once again we headed back to camp and connected with a fish just as we were about to pull up the lines.  The Chief caught a 5-6lb lake trout.  Supper was secured again.  He cleaned the fish and we took a break on camp for a while before we headed out fishing again.  From camp the bay looked like it had calmed a bit.  It had not.  We bounced around again and only made one pass before turning towards camp.  Just before the site, the Colonel connected again with a 2-3lb laker.  We let it swim free.  

Supper was supposed to be canned beef and noodles, but the Colonel called an audible and made a dish with sauteed mushrooms and onions in a parmesan sauce over braised lake trout.  It was...you know by now...fantastic.  The forecast called for calmer winds the next day, but strong winds on Monday, the day we were supposed to leave.  

We woke and listened to the forecast again...it just confirmed the one from the night before.  So, in the interest in safety, we decided to pack up camp and move to a campsite close to the landing.  We loaded back up, got the boat going (it was now working perfectly), and hit the bigger channel back towards town.  The rollers had calmed overnight and were very manageable.  We checked out the site on the map that was closest to town, but it wasn't even visible from the lake.  We had a chat with our friends from town-they were out for a picnic on their bigger boat-and we headed to the next closest site.  It was a neat one on a sand bar that offered two protected harbors for the boat.  We dumped off the gear and rigged the rods for trolling.  Our first spot just off a mid-channel reef produced no fish, as did a really neat deep shoreline that had beautifully eroded cliffs.  We reeled up and headed into an isolated bay near town and immediately had a hit that didn't hook up.  Soon after that, an eating sized lake trout was in the boat.  We made another pass and I hooked up with a nice sized coho salmon that we also invited to supper.  I must say that was one of the most satisfying fish I had caught in a while.  I had been fishing a shallow running stickbait off a planer board and had no action on it.  I decided to get a little deeper, so I put on my favorite orange spoon and, for the first time ever, I put on a snap weight...a trolling system a friend had recommended.  No joshing, I hooked that salmon 30 seconds after putting the new rig out.  That felt good.  Unfortunately that was the only shallow fish we hooked that day.  We did get three more smallish lake trout-two of them on my orange spoon.  So it wasn't too bad of a fishing afternoon.  

We enjoyed a nice campfire on the beach and the Chief freestyle (no breading) fried the trout and salmon and I made up a special batch of gnocchi in a creamy sundried tomato and pesto sauce.  Very good.  The salmon was right up there with the best fish I have ever eaten.  The Chief can clean and cook fish with the best of them.  It was a beautiful night.  

On Monday we quickly packed up after having some salmon salad the Colonel whipped up from some leftover fish with pickles and mayonnaise on crackers.  It was a great breakfast.  We loaded up and chugged into the landing without incident.  The wind was building and we were glad to be off the water.  We chatted with our new friends one more time.  One interesting item was discussed...on the beach at our last campsite the sand was littered with literally thousands of white oval plastic pellets the size of a lady bug.  They were everywhere.  We could not figure out where they came from.  When talking with the locals, we learned that a train derailment had happened several years ago and an entire boxcar of the pellets had been dumped in Lake Superior just up the bay.  Apparently the pellets are used in oil fracking operations in some way.  Now there is a boat permanently kept in the little town and its crew sucks the beached pellets in a vacuum sorter all summer long.  It looked to us that they had a long ways to go.  

We hit the road and headed back down the lakeshore to Thunder Bay, made it through US customs quickly and cruised into Duluth early evening.  It was a good trip, learned a few lessons, fishing wasn't fast, but we couldn't have expected to learn all the spots and tricks the first time, especially when the wind prevented us from exploring too much.  

Nature Moment: We didn't see too much wildlife on this trips.  The islands are forested differently than other areas at this latitude because Lake Superior keeps temps low and its winds, spray, and fog affect growth.  So the forests are mostly scrubby spruce and spindly birch.  The trees are quite small.  The islands have deer and moose and the biggest ones may have a resident wolf pack or two.  There weren't even many chipmunks, squirrels, or songbirds around.  There were lots of eagles, vultures, and osprey.  The nature moment, though, was hearing and seeing peregrine falcons.  These birds of prey are more scarce and have neat attributes-the fasted living thing on the planet when they dive bomb prey at more than 200 miles per hour.  We saw then right where the guide books would say to look-big flat faced cliffs.  They nest on open cliff shelves.  When we watched them, one seemed to be driving another one away from the area...maybe a youngster that was reluctant to leave mom's care and head south?  If I were to go to Hawk Ridge in Duluth, maybe I would see it flying by later this month.  

Hubs' Flub: I am generally the guy on our trips that does the planning, including reviewing the local regulations to ensure that we are compliant.  We like going to Ontario too much to lose that privilege due to ignorance.  So I found it odd when the local guy that checked on us when the motor died said his first words to us: "You got enough f**king poles?"  I had checked the regulations and it said we could each use two lines in Lake Superior in Ontario, so the eight poles the three of us had didn't seem out of line...2 poles per person plus some spares on a five day trip seemed about right.  We didn't answer his question, we just moved on to the engine discussion.  

When we went back to the dock to work on the engine, the local guy we knew brought us the sea foam and when we were about to take off again, he said, "You know you can only use 1 pole per person in this section of Lake Superior right?"

I was surprised.  I had checked the regulations, but he explained that the area around the islands was an exception.  I rechecked them and found the exception language in the booklet-he was right.  That explained the comment from the other fellow about so many poles.  Whew...although we didn't see any authorities, we were glad the guy let us know the rules.  And, truth be told, we had all we could handle with only three rods.  There were so many reefs and holes in the area that we were constantly raising and lowering lines and down rigging balls...it was more active than fishing around Duluth.  In fact, I did snag up my dipsy diver on a surprise reef.  I lost the a heavy duty clip, the dipsy, the snubber, the flourocarbon leader, the heavy duty swivels, and a seven dollar stick bait.  Totaled up it probably was more than $40 worth of stuff.  Ouch.  

Quote of the Trip: "Be careful on Nipigon Bay...it can get really rough."  

That was an unsolicited quote from a concerned fellow in the parking lot of the liquor store in Thunder Bay.  He gave it to us after he had just explained he never fished Lake Superior, just inland lakes.  It seemed a little odd, but we were glad for the hospitality.  

Another thing that was quoted multiple times was the Chief's affectionate imitation of the old Inuit man in the movie Never Cry Wolf.  The man responds to one of the lead character's crazy notions by saying "Good Idea." in a unique accent.  So, whenever someone made a decision to change lures or suggested a new spot, we always responded with "Good Idea" using the accent.  Unfortunately, by the end of the trip it had morphed into a new response: "Bad Idea."  

Superior Success, Kind Of

Salmonids

Close followers of my fishing adventures know that I personally have had very poor luck fishing Lake Superior, which is only a couple blocks from my home in Duluth.  Shorecasting, drifting flies and worms in tributaries, helping out on a buddy's charter boat, ice fishing, and spending a few hours on other friends' boats all had me netting plenty of fish for others, but never connecting on any fish myself.  Finally this spring I caught my first Lake Superior fish, a nice walleye, but those are considered a lowly bottom feeder by this trout snob.  No, I only count salmonids on my tally sheet.  Finally, I caught one small coho salmon on The Colonel's boat in August...a salmonid, but I barely even felt it wiggle bringing it in.  

Still, in mid-September I was excited to give it a try on a new buddy's boat. The Brewer hadn't had the boat, a small, but worthy craft, on the big lake yet and he was pretty excited to try it as well.  We arrived at the nearest public access just before sunrise, the first craft to be launched that day.  The boat went into the water, the truck went back up to be parked in the lot, and we stepped in to take off.  No go.  Dead battery.  The navigation light switched had been bumped on and the battery was drained.  Hmmm.  Tried to use a jumper from the truck.  No go.  Finally tried the emergency pull starter.  No go at first, but a re-rigging of it brought the 40 horse to life.  We headed out onto a dead calm Lake Superior.  I dropped down a dipsy-diver (we didn't have any downriggers) with a favorite orange spoon and had a strike before we even had the other lines in the water.  I reeled in a very nice coho salmon and The Brewer netted it perfectly.  Success!  Maybe today was finally my day.

We didn't have any more action in that area, so after a bit we headed out to deeper water.  The Brewer had a strike on his dipsy and stick bait, so we turned around slowly and headed back through that spot.  I saw my dipsy line tug and soon I had a nice lake trout to the boat.  The Brewer went for it with the net and somehow the fish went right through it!  The net had come apart and needed to be repaired.  We wrestled the trout on board by hand.  It wasn't huge, but The Brewer was going to feed his family well that night.  

We felt we had pinpointed a good spot, so we went to turn and troll through it again.  Suddenly an absolutely piercing noise came from his boat console.  I mean hurt your ears screaming.  It was some type of alarm.  We didn't dare shut the motor off for fear of not getting it started again (remember the dead battery) and after poking around a bit, we just boated back to the landing and gave up.  We didn't want to risk any major damage to the motor.  We think maybe the dead battery made the alarm system funky.  Either way, our day was done.  Just when I had finally found some Superior fish!  Foiled again.  

It was still a good trip for me with the two fish and I had a nice time chatting with the The Brewer on a beautiful Lake Superior morning.  Still living the good life in a cool city on a great lake.  

Nice and Easy

Chief Many-Little-Bottles mans the downrigger

It was an un-laborious Labor Day weekend for the Chief and I as we did a unique little Boundary Waters Canoe Area trip.  We ditched the canoes and fished and camped on one of the few lakes in the BWCA that allows motorboats.  

We each took care of some odds and ends on Friday morning and met up at the Chief's house around noon.  We soon headed north towing his 16 foot Lund with a 25 horsepower motor.  The forest service allows motors on our lake of choice, but only up to 25 horsepower.  Before too long, we arrived at a lake's boat landing just outside the BWCA.  We loaded our camping and fishing gear into the boat and headed north, away from the crowds.  After a bit we turned into a bay to the "truck portage" landing.  The forest service has an agreement with an operator to bring boats across a road-like portage into the BWCA lake.  The operator used to have an old truck, but now just uses an ATV with boat trailer.  He has set hours and we waited a little bit, chatting with other adventurers that were also waiting.  Before long, we were on the trailer and over the portage and then were zipping down the large BWCA lake, searching for a good campsite.  Some of the best ones were taken, but we found a pretty good site on an island and called it home.  We set up the tents and tarps and had a snack before heading out fishing during the usually productive evening hours.  Unfortunately we caught only one bass and no walleyes, our targeted species.  We gave it a real shot, staying well after sunset, but no luck.  We headed back to camp, but had a bit of trouble locating it in the dark. We did eventually find our site and were soon eating a supper of steaks and sauteed mushrooms and onions.  We stayed up well into the night solving the world's problems one at a time.  

After a warm, but comfortable, night, we leisurely ate breakfast and got our gear together.  We headed out on a nice sunny day, this time targeting my favorite fish, lake trout.  The Chief put on a unique purple spoon on his downrigger rod while I tried a more traditional gold spoon.  Nearly immediately, Chief had a strike.  He fought a larger fish for a few minutes, but the line soon went slack.  Crap!  He reeled in his line to discover that he didn't have the spoon anymore, the line had broken.  Hmm...a big pike with its line shearing teeth?  Or was it a trout and just a bad spot in the line?  Either way, we took it in stride and hoped it meant the fish were biting.  Chief put on another purple spoon and we continued on our deep water (90 feet on average) attack.  After no action, I switched from a spoon to a gold spinner with a salted sucker minnow.  The move paid off in short order and I caught a smallish lake trout-not the size we were seeking but a good sign.  As we moved into another fishy looking deep hole, the Chief's line released from the downrigger indicating a bite and soon we had a really nice trout (about 7lbs) in the net and on the stringer.  Before long, Chief had another bite and he caught and released a twin of his previous trout.  Clouds were building however, and thunder began to rumble.  The weather was about to change in a big way.  We buzzed back to camp and cleaned the trout for supper.  We settled into our chairs underneath the tarp when storm announced its arrival with a huge lightning strike, very close by - the second closest lightning strike I have experienced in my life (sometime I will tell you about the closest one).  That woke us up a bit.  The storm was a good one, lots of lightning, a major downpour of rain, and gusty winds.  Before long, things settled down and we were able to enjoy Chief's famous fried lake trout and mashed potatoes.  Temperatures were dropping that night and another fairly big storm rolled through as we were heading to bed.  

A rainy night produced a drippy, gray morning with a stiff north wind and cool temps-a complete 180 from the day before.  That usually spells poor fishing and this was no exception.  We gave it a good shot in the waves and rain, but had no bites.  Before long we scrapped it and just hung out under the tarp.  Rain kept up through much of the day.  We still had fun BSing.  I whipped up a fish-less sausage jambalaya type dish that hit the spot for supper and we hit the hay fairly early.  It was just one of those BWCA rainy days that occur once in a while.

On Monday morning the sun began poking back out as we packed up camp and loaded the boat.  It became a beautiful sunny day as we fished our way to the truck portage, but the fish were still off their feed - no bites.  After the ATV and boat rides we soon had the gear loaded in the truck and headed for Duluth.  I came home and caught a neighborhood Labor Day picnic just in time for some great food. 

It was good, relaxing trip that was easygoing...I'll try that area again someday. 

Nature Moment: After the storm had passed on Saturday, we became aware of a flock of large birds circling over our campsite.  Turkey vultures.  Soon there were a bunch of them circling right over us - 13 to be exact.  Did they see the lightning strike and assume we were dead?  It was a bit ominous.

Hubs' Flub:  I mentioned our trouble finding our site in the dark on the first evening.  We should have left a lantern turned on or something...  We bopped back and forth, even mistaking another occupied site for our own, which may have been awkward for site's occupants.  What made it worse is that we both had headlamps along...with dead batteries.  Not our best wilderness moment.  The site was actually much closer to the tip of the island than we had thought.  Next time we'll be more careful.  

Quote of the Trip: Chief - "Hey, there are people in our campsite!"

A Superior Fish

What's better than catching a trophy specimen of my favorite fish, the mighty lake trout?  Catching a trophy just a few miles from your front door.  The Colonel (formerly the Smoked Fish Guy) and I headed out on the big lake just outside of Duluth early Sunday morning determined to improve our Lake Superior luck.  Since he acquired and outfitted a big lake worthy boat, we had caught a few fish, but nothing really notable.  I think Superior is tough to learn, but we are sticking with it.

This morning the Colonel decided to try a dead-bait rig he had used to catch salmon in Alaska.  He had tried the rig in Lake Michigan a couple times with no action, but we thought it might be a good day to try it in Lake Superior.  So, we put out three lines with more traditional spoons and stickbaits and we rigged the dead cisco on the final line.  We put it on the downrigger below us at about 80 feet as we trolled over 150 to 200 feet of water.

Not much happened the first hour or so of trolling, so we decided to lower the cisco rig another 40 feet or so.  As the Colonel completed that task, the line released from the downrigger clip.  Son of a Biscuit!  He had over-tightened the line when lowering it and it accidentally released.  Or so we thought.  He began reeling the line in so that it could be re-rigged.  But the line tightened.  What the heck, it didn't release?  Our confusion was immediately cleared when the reel's drag began pulling out.  Fish on!  It must have hit just as we lowered the bait.

Well, the fight was an interesting one to say the least.  After the initial tussle, the fish began acting like the Colonel had caught a five gallon bucket.  Not really fighting, but not coming up, either.  I started to think that the fish had wrapped around the other downrigger ball.  The Colonel stuck with it for quite awhile, and the fish slowly started to come up, but it was still acting like a lead ball.  After hemming and hawing about what to do, we decided to pull up the other downrigger and see if it was tangled.  It wasn't.  Now we began thinking we had a serious fish on.  I pulled in the two surface lines and shut the motor off.  Soon we had our first look at the fish, just a splash of the tail, and we could see it was a dandy.  After a bit more of a battle, we cleanly netted the lake trout and hooted and hollered a bit.

The laker was 35 inches long with a 21 inch girth.  The internet formulas translate those measurements to 18 pounds.  The Colonel stated that the boat had just paid for itself.  It was a great moment.

We fished a few more hours and I finally caught a Lake Superior fish.  It was a one pound coho salmon.  That really hurt our average size for the day, but I was excited to eat salmon that night for dinner (the whole family loved it).

We wrapped up the outing in the early afternoon with no more bites, but our day was already made.

Quote of the Trip: "I think you caught the downrigger ball."

Hubs' Flub: I didn't really check with the Colonel about how long he wanted to fish that day.  So, I told my wonderful bride that I'd be home early afternoon so she could go have some fun at the knitting store.  When I met up with the Colonel, he had brought a ton of food and beer...he was planning on staying all day.  Oops.  I tried to figure out way to stay out, but it didn't happen.  So I screwed that one up.  Sorry, Colonel.

Nature Moment: There were no really notable nature moments on Lake Superior that day, so instead I will mention one that happened yesterday as I was driving to a site on Rainy Lake (just outside International Falls) that we are trying to turn into a park/picnic ground.  As I neared the site, a bald eagle swooped low over my vehicle...and crapped all over the hood and the windshield.  It was impressive.  The wipers got the windshield cleaned pretty well, but the hood needs some intense attention from the people at London Road Carwash.  Sorry, people.

Lake Superior is a Fickle Biscuit

When our daughter Super-Kid was a toddler and developing her vocabulary, I found myself having to adjust my language during unfortunate events so she didn't pick up any poor habits. I often fell back to my Dad's non-cussing that he did around me when I was a kid. Thus, "Son of a Biscuit!" became standard fare in our household. Well, let me tell you, Lake Superior is a fickle biscuit. After I arrived home from the annual Shitstorm trip in mid-June, my neighbor the charter captain told me all about the crazy good fishing he was having on the big lake just outside our home City of Duluth. Piles of delicious Coho Salmon, coolers full of big, hard fighting lake trout, and a even a king salmon or two thrown in for good measure. After having slow fishing up north, I was ready to hit Superior. Luckily my good pal The Colonel had just acquired a Lake Superior worthy boat. It was an older model but was in very good shape, 18 feet long, a deep v, and well-powered. Also luckily, he stumbled into a cache of older, but still in great shape, deep water trolling gear at no cost. Electric downriggers, trolling rods and reels, spoons, plugs, dipy divers, flashers, flies, a long handled net, the whole bit. He made a few other investments and the boat and gear was ready in short order.

We didn't make it out before the canoe trip, but the week we got back, the big lake was like glass and fishable Monday through Thursday. Of course, we couldn't go those days, we had too much work stuff going on. So we went on that Friday with his three boys. It was too windy. We tried to make a go of it for about an hour but the waves grew. Right before we hid behind the pier, I did catch a fish. My first Lake Superior fish. A lake trout, my favorite fish? No. A tasty coho salmon? No. A hard charging king salmon? No. It was one of those darn bottom feeding walleyes, a 25 incher. Caught 3 feet below the surface in 50 feet of Lake Superior water. Oh well.

The next couple weeks was a series of disappointments. When my friends with boats could go, I couldn't. If I could, it was too windy. We even had a couple false starts when we thought we could fish, but turned around when the waves were determined to be too big. Finally on a sunny afternoon, the Colonel and I along with another friend made it out on the big lake. We got trolling, still learning the ins-and-outs of the boat and the gear. After a bit, we had a fish on and our friend, a skilled craftsman who had helped with some critical modifications on the boat, brought a nice 6lb or so lake trout on board. Joy! The Colonel later added a decent coho salmon to the box. Not too shabby, but my cold water species shutout on Lake Superior continued.

On July 4th, the wind finally laid down again and I had the rare treat of fishing Lake Superior in my canoe. It was dead calm at 5:30am when I started jigging off a rocky point up the shore from Duluth. I kept jigging deeper and deeper, and finally hooked a fish on the bottom in 130 feet of water. It felt like a very nice fish, but it spit the hook about 1/2 way up. Son of a Biscuit! It was my only bite of the morning, but I admit just being out aways on Lake Superior in a canoe is fun...if you look the right direction, all you can see in your view is the bow of your canoe and water all the way to the horizon. Looking the other way, it was so calm and clear I could make out Duluth's aerial lift bridge, but only the top half, over the horizon of blue. A great morning to be a Duluthian.

Made it out on the big lake again with the Colonel and his oldest boy on Saturday. The pizza and wings we brought on board were great and strangely, despite calm waters, we had the lake to ourselves. A little sprinkle kept the riff raff away I guess. Maybe they knew the fishing was bad...we never had a bite all afternoon. Nothing. Well, we did have equipment issues, tangled lines, missing lures, etc. So maybe that had something to do with it. Tried to go fishing on Sunday morning on another friend's boat, but the wind was stronger than forecast, so no go. Fishing can be a real biscuit sometimes.

Cold Water Quetico

The annual Camp Shitstorm Canoe Trip was a 10 day festival of fun this year. Overall fishing was slow, but the laughs made up for it.

Monday, May 27, 2013
Fran Tarkington Fan arrived from Seattle earlier in the weekend and, after correcting a customs mishap, helped the Colonel and I (Private Philips) pack up and do the prep for the trip. The Iowa gang (Tick Check, Gatorade, and Wear-Some-Shorts) arrived Sunday evening and the ping-pong contest began in earnest. It ended when an 11 year old said, "all Uncle (Tick Check) cares about is ping pong and tequila." So, it wasn't a fast start to the day on Monday. We hit the road north at about 10am and lunched at a favorite tavern. Heading further into the bush, we got to the tow boat at 2:30pm. It was an uneventful ride to the drop off in cool, but sunny temps. We grabbed a campsite nearby and leisurely set up the tents while enjoying brewhouse beers and catching up with one another. We all loved the new German brats that the Colonel makes at the Northern Waters Smokehaus. Honestly, best brats I have ever eaten. Lots of laughs well into the night.

Tuesday
It was cloudy but dry as we packed up camp, stowed the beer coolers on an island, and headed across the big part of the lake into Canada and Quetico. We met up with Janice the Ranger to get our permit. She was still getting settled in as the ice didn't leave her bay until the 20th and she had just been flown in to the station a couple days prior to our arrival. She was helpful and pleasant and we chatted about fishing spots and good campsites to look at. This is her 27th summer on the island and she has no retirement plans. Permit in hand, we all spread out to fish the bay, meeting back up at "Stupid Steve's Campsite (Janice's term)" on the north end. Wear-Some-Shorts and I had poor luck, as did Tick Check and Gatorade, but The Colonel and Fran Fan had caught some nice lake trout. The Colonel had caught and released one that he figures was near 10lbs. After setting up camp, we went out again and we all had better luck for lakers. We kept one fish to accompany our traditional early trip meal of asparagus, steaks, and free-style (no breading) lake trout. The campsite was decent, but had a nasty dead, leaning tree over it and the tent pads were marginal. Lots of laughs around the fire that night...for some unknown reason Tick Check tackled me and attempted a physical assault, but I fought him off. At least that is how I remember it.

Wednesday
We packed up the camp on a nice, sunny morning. We headed west to our first portage, which was crowded with other travelers. We negotiated it without incident and were soon fishing on another big lake with very cold water temperatures. The walleyes were not in the initial current area, so we moved on. Two of the canoes chose to take the short cut portage, but Wear-Some-Shorts and I decided to explore the lake and go around the long point. Wear-Some-Shorts caught two lakers and two bass in very shallow water next to shore. When we arrived at the appointed camp, we learned the others had caught a few nice walleyes, but it wasn't fast. Camp was near a current area. It had a good garage and sitting rock, but it was full of dead trees perilously hanging over the tent pads. The wind forecast was for light breezes, so we set up under the "widowmakers" anyway. We had another great meal of Dirty Rice, NWS andouille sausage, and fried walleye. Very good. Dirty rice has officially replaced our old standby of Red Beans and Rice, we just like it better. It started raining in earnest shortly after we went to bed.

Thursday
We packed up in the rain on this morning. Not a downpour, but a steady drip. We fished our way north through many areas of current (water was quite high on all the lakes). Only one or two spots held walleye, and we only stringered a couple of fish. After much discussion, we decided to push on to a lake trout lake...the water was just too cold for bass and walleye, but the lakers should be active was our reasoning. At the last portage of the day, right in front of a nice little waterfall, Tick Check tied into a lunker of a fish. After a battle that included getting out of the canoe and battling it from shore, he landed the beast, a 42 inch, very fat, northern pike. Probably the biggest pike I have ever seen. After photos and laughing at Fran Fan's battle with an middleeweight pike from the same spot that jumped two feet out of the water during the fight, a downpour of rain hit. The soggy day continued as we made our way onto an unfamiliar lake. We hadn't been there before, nor had anyone in our circle of friends. After watching Shorts catch an 18 inch bass (this new lake was smaller and the water was warmer than the last one), we found a decent campsite in a central location and set up the tents and tarp. The rain stopped and we made fantastic meal of homemade mac and cheese and walleye. A warming campfire ended the night.

Friday
We left camp intact and set out to explore and fish the lake. I paired up with Fran Fan and headed south, getting a couple lake trout right away. We made our way up a shallow creek catching some bass and pike as we went. It was a breezy, but sunny, day. We made our way back north and caught some more lake trout near camp. We headed to shore as black cloud was building to the south and west. The others joined us in camp and all spoke of great fishing...many large smallmouth bass (18" and 19") and plenty of decent lake trout. A good day by any standards. The black cloud moved closer and we battened down the hatches as severe thunderstorm hit us...pouring rain and very strong winds lasted about 20 minutes. After the storm passed we set about making a fire and fixing supper. It was a fantastic meal, probably the best on the trip-green curry and coconut rice. Very easy to make and it goes great with lake trout.

Saturday
We had intended to pack up and move this day, but it was raining and the fishing had been good the day before, so we decided to stay another night. It was a pretty gross day...misting rain and a strong, cold, north wind. We had "Quetico Supremes" for breakfast and hit the lake anyway. Tick Check and I searched for bass, but the cold front had shut them down. We hit a few lake trout near camp instead. Action was fairly steady, although all I personally caught was an 8 to 10lb pike. We went back to camp early as feet and hands were starting to get chilled. It took a team effort, but soon we had a roaring fire in spite of the steady rain. Supper was another favorite: Kek Burgers....bacon lake trout sandwiches.

Sunday
It dried up overnight and we packed up on a chilly (30's) morning. We caught a few more trout on our way off of the lake. We steadily headed south, backtracking on our route. Taking the extra day on the previous camp meant we altered our plans and we decided to stay two nights near a big current area that had lots of back bays on a big lake. The area had plenty of people, so we had to take a back bay campsite. It turned out to be just fine after we cut and moved some downed trees. It was a sunny day, but definitely had cold front conditions...we had no fish for supper. So, we made camp pesto on spaghetti with NWS salamini. It was perfect.

Monday
We stayed put in our little camp and split up to explore and fish the area. Shorts and I went north and caught a laker and a nice walleye off mid-lake structure. We checked out a pretty incoming creek and bay, but it only held small pike. We did find one of the best campsites I have ever seen in Canoe Country though, a pine covered island with a great garage and nice breeze with an elevated kitchen with a 240 degree view. I know where I will be seeking to camp next time. We fished our way back to camp, but the fish were still hibernating. I did take a warm shower thanks to the sun shower back at camp. Others returned with a mixed bag of trout, walleyes, and bass, but overall everyone reported very slow fishing. The Colonel had the story of the day with a 43.5 inch northern pike, the longest pike anyone on my trips has ever caught, a true trophy. We made up some fish tacos that night, even heating a rock in the campfire to pre-heat the tortillas. It was a fun idea.

Tuesday
It was cloudy, but dry, as we headed back to our take out point. We fished our way, only getting one lake trout the entire time. Very slow fishing. We stopped at Janice the Ranger's to give her a portage condition report (only two downed trees on the route). There was a huge pine tree down on her entrance path...a victim of the Friday storm that had just missed her solar power equipment. We bought a few Quetico souvenirs and took a group photo with her in it. She is as much a part of this area of Quetico as the lakes, rocks, and trees. We fished our way back into America with no luck at all. We took a over-loved, large campsite near the tow boat pick up. It was fishless mashed potatoes with re-hydrated hamburger and veggies for supper.

Wednesday
A sunny morning greeted us as we packed up camp once again. It was a short paddle to the pick up and soon we were loading the boats and the outboards were powering us to the dock. It was an uneventful journey back to Duluth. We said our goodbyes to our Quetico Family and hello to our "real" families. It was another great trip. I am very lucky I can take 10 days of my life to immerse myself into a paddling adventure, even if the fish don't cooperate fully. I thank my understanding bride and I thank my trip mates that let me join them each year.

Nature Moment: When Wear-Some-Shorts and I went to retrieve our beer cooler from the island at the end of the trip, we discovered that in-between the day early in the trip that we stashed our cooler and day we picked it up, a loon had made her nest and laid an egg right next to the cooler. She was not pleased when we snuck up to grab the cooler. No injuries to any party, thankfully. The egg was big and splotchy purple colored.

Hubs' Flub: Well, even though I should have learned my lesson some how, I managed to sunburn my ears again. Despite suncreen use, I ended up with blisters and everything. I must have burned off the nerves over the years, though, because they never hurt, just itched a bit. Next year: Zinc Oxide.

Quote of the Trip: There were plenty of candidates this trip, including, "I wouldn't snag into Fran Tarkington's throat if he was dying of thirst," but the quote the trip was definitely spoke by The Colonel when he said: "Dog shit would taste good if it was in a tortilla." We tested him by giving him a tortilla with moose poop in it...he didn't eat it.

Thank You, Sheep

It was the last winter camping and lake trout fishing trip of the season this past weekend. The Colonel, Rocket Man, and I got things loaded on Thursday morning and headed north on a warm, sunny day. We met the Captain at a lake access parking lot where he had been camping since Sunday. He reported slow fishing and sloppy conditions. We headed to our lake of choice and loaded the camping gear in the sleds, hooked them to the snow machines and hit the ice. We tooled around a bit looking for a good, easily accessible campsite and found one in an out of the way bay. We got the canvas tents and woodstoves set up, then headed out to fish. We found a lot of machine sucking slush in the bay, but we were able to set up out of the slop at a steep point. We failed to get any trout, the only fish caught was a small walleye. We stopped fishing fairly early and got some wood cut for the stove. We had a favorite meal, the Colonel's smoked ribs-they are fantastic.

On Friday morning, it was cold and sunny. The day started off with a bang (See Hubs' Flub below). We decided to fish a bay we hadn't tried in previous trips to this lake. It was slow fishing overall, but the day warmed, the wind was calm...I could have used a beach umbrella. I caught two smallish trout and a big cisco. Captain caught a couple decent trout, but the Colonel and Rocket Man were skunked. We fished fairly late trying to conjure up some action, but it never picked up. We had gnocchi in a tomato alfredo sauce and fried fish for supper.

We woke up to rain on Saturday morning. Rain or wet snow is the worst weather for winter campers. Canvas tents soak up the water and dampens gear. Fortunately the rain morphed into fog by the time we set out to fish and before long a west breeze blew the fog off and it was sunny and warm again. We went to a proven lake trout spot, but fishing was only slightly better. I caught a couple lake trout, the Captain, Rocket Man, and the Colonel caught one fish apiece. The Colonel lost a big fish at the hole at the end of the day, which was a real kick to the groin. The lake was pretty much a complete wet snow/slush slop fest by the end of the day, but the machines never bogged down on the trip back to camp. I made a new thai curry rice dish that night, and it turned out pretty well.

Sunday dawned with strong winds and falling snow. It was determined that conditions were not amenable to fishing, so we packed up camp at a leisurely pace and took off in blizzard like conditions for the landing. It was a slow ride on refrozen slush and blowing snow. We transferred the gear to the trucks, headed south, had lunch and buzzed back to Duluth with no issues. As usual it felt a bit odd to put the winter gear away in the garage for the last time this season. It was a good trip, but like most trips this year, fishing was slow. Not a good fishing catching winter season at all, but snow conditions were deep and often prevented us from fishing the spots we would have preferred. Now it is time to get switch the gear to open water angling.

Nature Moment: It is surprising how fast nature wakes up when the temperature goes up, despite there still being a ton of snow in the woods. We saw moths, flies, and even spiders. Won't be long and the black flies and mosquitoes will be out and about.

Hubs' Flub: This one was a doozy and I am lucky it wasn't worse than it was. It was pretty cold on Friday morning. The Colonel attempted to fire up the propane heater, but only the pilot light would come on. We goofed with it for a quite a bit and couldn't get it to go. I was a little frustrated and decided to just light the little camp stove on a 1 pound propane tank instead. I made the big mistake of attaching the 1 pound tank to the little stove inside the tent. Of course the little tank was cold and as sometimes happens, frost plugged the stove line. Propane sprayed out, hit the lit pilot light on the non-functioning heater and exploded. Whoosh. Big fire ball. My lap was on fire, and the little stove was burning at the tank, which was still leaking. I dropped it to the ground and slapped out the fire on my legs. I yelled Fire!, Fire! to get help from the Captain and Rocket Man in the other tent. The Colonel got our tent door open and I grabbed the burning stove and tank and threw them out the door, where Captain and Rocket man used snow to smother the fire before the tank blew. Wow, that was a wake up call. How could I be so stupid? (Don't answer that, dear.) The only permanent damage was a melted nylon hanging shelf that was right above my head. I was very lucky that I had my wool pants on. Wool doesn't burn well and doesn't melt. If I had had my fleece pants on? Melting and burning synthetic fibers would likely have burned my legs significantly. Thank you, sheep.

Quote of The Trip: "Fire!"

This Ain't Last Year

A year ago on St. Patrick's Day it was 80 degrees. On this year's St. Pat's, it was considerably less than that. Tangerine Boy and I left Duluth on Friday morning and headed north on a cool, cloudy day. We cruised up the Gunflint Trail and set up the canvas tent and wood stove at my favorite out of the way campsite. We then drove to a lake I have passed a thousand times and never fished. Well, Tangerine Boy was game for a new spot and we found ourselves in a nicely plowed parking lot with a shot downhill path to the lake. Tangerine Boy discovered that his fishhouse and gear did not pull very easily. The lake seemed to have very little traffic on it, so there weren't many packed snowmobile trails to follow. So we made a short drag through deep snow and slush to a nice looking, steep point. Our depth checks revealed it was 30 to 35 feet deep, which sounded good to us. Tangerine Boy soon caught a 15" lake trout, but I told him to toss it back, that we could do better. Should have kept my mouth shut. That was the only fish of the day. We made the drag back up the hill and then drove to a local hangout for supper, then went back to the tent for a few laughs around the wood stove.

On Saturday we drove to a lake I have fished several times, and we set up on a proven spot. I never caught a fish or even had a nibble, but Tangerine Boy caught a very nice, 25" lake trout. The wind grew throughout the day and was really whipping at times. It was a chilly walk back to the truck. We had some potato soup for supper.

Sunday was cold and breezy again. Definitely not 80 degrees. We hemmed and hawed about where to fish considering our limited mobility. We decided to give the lake we had fished on Friday a full day's chance. Well, we had action, reeling in five trout, but none were keepers. Maybe it will be a good lake in a few years. It was pretty spot and very quiet. Tangerine Boy saw a deer come off the shore and start across the lake...we were hopeful a wolf pack had chased it onto the lake and that we would finally see a live wolf kill, but alas, the deer just turned around and went back in the woods. It was salmon chowder for supper. The wind switched to the south and grew in intensity in the night and we ended up with a major backdraft from the wood stove. Tangerine Boy woke up to a tent full of smoke...he quickly detached the pipe and got the stove outside. He then got the tent aired out. I...never even woke up.

On Monday morning and we packed quickly in an effort to beat an impending snowfall. We didn't beat it, so it was a slow drive down the north shore, but we made it safely. It was a good trip without the best fishing, but saw some new water. Next adventure will be the last weekend of the month. With all this snow, I don't think the ice will be gone like last year.

Nature Moment: This one will be a favorite...On Saturday night I woke up when Tangerine Boy came back into the tent after peeing. He told me that I should pee too. Sounded good to me, so I went outside and had the most scenic pee of my life...the northern lights covered the entire sky in big waves of color. Spectacular. One of the few times I have seen them when they cover the entire sky to all horizons.

Hubs' Flub: There weren't any screw ups that stood out, so I'll go back in time for this classic...The Colonel, his kid, Gunflint Jones, and I went fishing a few years ago in late October on a rainy day. We left Duluth early in the morning and cruised north, ending up on some forest roads to our chosen lake. When we got out of the truck we discovered that somehow we had left the tailgate of the truck open the entire way. We had so much stuff that I couldn't see it in the rearview mirror. Despite the miles and the bumps, we didn't lose a single item. Lucky.

Quote of the Trip: David Alan Grier, as Teddy Pendergrass, singing on the Adam Carolla Show, "I am gonna ^*&*%%^# your &*%#$## in a granny knot, baby!" I guess you had to be there.

Frosty the Snowman

I had an interesting little winter camping trip last weekend. It was a solo event, which can be really relaxing, but can also get a little long. I left Duluth Friday morning and headed up the Gunflint Trail. I left the main road and went to a little pull off spot I know about and set up the tent and wood stove. I then hopped back in the truck and drove to a nearby lake that has easy access and is stocked with lake trout. There was a cold east wind as I set up the portable fish house on a reef I had caught fish on a couple years ago, but the propane heater soon fired up and warmed the tent. No one else was fishing the lake as far as I could see. I caught two lakers, one was pretty small, but the other one was a decent fish. Not too bad for right next to the road. I headed back to camp at dusk and heated up some potato soup while listening to podcasts. I'm no tech head, but podcasts on the I-pod make solo trips much more fun for me. It was getting pretty cold when I went to turn in. I went outside to turn on the 10 pound propane tank, as I like to run my heater at night when it is below zero. The handle on the tank would not open. I twisted, banged, tried to warm it up in the tent all to no avail. Finally I said forget it, how cold could it get? It could get to minus 20 degrees, I found out the next morning. I awoke in the dark shivering, despite my two sleeping bags. Went to pee and was delighted to see a sliver of light to the east. Thank goodness, morning was arriving. I got pretty chilly overnight. When I got home later, I learned my sister was also up at 5:30am Saturday morning, singing Frosty the Snowman with one of her kids. I felt like Frosty the Snowman.

March is a different animal than January and February, however. By the time I drove to my lake of choice for the day, the sun was already warming the snowpack and the winds were calm. I loaded my fishing gear on the sled and took off across the lake, heading for the far side. The snow was deep and fluffy on the lake, but old snowmachine tracks made for easy walking. Only the last 100 yards of the 1.25 mile trek was on fresh snow. Under the snow I found slush and frozen slush. This made for tough hand drilling the holes. Once water from the slush gets into the hole you are drilling, it doubles the resistance. I didn't drill a lot of holes, but I was confident in my spot on a subtle point. It was a slow morning as the sun continued to warm. By 11am I was fishing outside in 20 warm, calm degrees. When I moved my tip up to a shallower hole (I started in 43 feet and moved to 25 feet), I immediately caught a nice lake trout, about 27 inches (about five pounds?), I gutted and gilled the fish and buried it under the snow. I caught another trout on the that tip up, a smaller fish that I released, in the same hole, so moved my jigging operation in shallow water and started working the depths with my tube jig. I caught two 25 inch lakers, both released. I also had one nice fish get off my hook just under the ice. Mid-afternoon, two Canadian Conservation Wardens zipped up to my on snowmachines (I was fishing in Canada, the lake is on the border). Under my conservation license, I can only keep one lake trout. When they saw I had already kept a fish, they went through all my gear and dug under any disturbed snow looking for another trout. Of course they didn't find any, but they did find my can of beer I had brought along. They informed me that I was lucky it was unopened, because, and I quote, "It is illegal to drink beer in Ontario." Now, I have spent a lot of time in Ontario, and based on my anecdotal research, beer is definitely not illegal in the province, and plenty of it is being drunk by its residents. I wanted to laugh, because how he said it was so funny, but I didn't laugh because I knew that isn't what he meant. The rule must be you can't drink beer on the ice or in public or something like that. I had heard some rumblings about that rule before, but thought that if I was in my fish house, I was legal. I'll have to look it up. The wardens took off and I was glad to see they ran their snowmachines past the next point down, which is where I wanted to fish the next day. Easy walking after they packed the path. I fished until dusk in rapidly dropping temperatures, then hoofed back to the truck. I decided to save my self from cooking and doing dishes and had a sandwich at the restaurant just past camp.

The night was again colder than forecast and I was awake shivering again at dawn on Sunday. Thermometer said -15. I got my gear loaded and headed back to the lake I fished the day before. It was a longer, but easy walk to the next point down. It looked like a good spot and I fished in 34 feet of water at the tip of the point. It was sunny and warmer than the day before, but the east wind was kicking in a little bit. Long story short, I fished the hell out multiple holes on the point and never even saw a fish on the graph until about 1pm. It watched that fish come in on the graph, chased my jig a short distance and then felt the strike. Missed him! The hook never found the jaw. I then watched my minnow, which had popped off the jig during the strike, slowly sink towards the bottom. I then, on the graph, watched the fish head downwards after the minnow and eat it. Damn! I quickly put another minnow on my jig and sent it back down and saw the fish come up for it again (hungry fish!). This time the hook set was good and I pulled the hungry trout through the hole, a decent laker. I let it go to catch again someday. It was only fish I saw all day. I packed a bit earlier and headed back to the truck. I had planned to fish near the vehicle until sundown, but I ended up running into a guy I knew and we ended up chatting and I watched him fish for awhile, and the sun was disappearing when I hit the road. I had another restaurant supper.

Monday morning was much warmer at 15 degrees above zero. I packed up up the gear, a process that is easier when I am solo because there is less to put in the truck and I can used the passenger seat to hold gear as well. I was home by 1pm and got the gear in the house, did some work things, and attended a City Council meeting that night. It was a good trip.

New Features of the Blog! I am adding two new elements in addition to the Nature Moment. The first is called Hubs' Flub. The content will be about the most significant screw up or equipment failure I had during my trip. The second new element will be the "Quote of the Trip." It will feature the best quote I heard on the trip.

Hubs' Flub: I already talked about the propane tank failure, but that wasn't really my fault. No, this trip's Hubs' Flub stands alone. On Sunday afternoon, as walked back to the truck, I was about 3/4 of the way back when I glanced back at my load on the sled behind me and noticed I was short one rod and reel. It must have worked itself loose and fallen off the sled. I unhooked the sled and walked back on my path to find it. I went about a 1/2 mile before I found it, so I added an extra mile to my 1.5 mile trek. I'll load better next time.

Nature Moment: When on the road near camp, I noticed moose tracks on the side of the road. This is not unusual. What was unusual was, when upon closer examination, there were wolf tracks as well. Moving up the road the snow on side of the road had a lot of disturbance...A moose/wolf fight had occurred. There was no blood and no hair, though. It appeared the battle had moved into the woods. The moose tracks were small...If it was a calf, I think we know how it ended. One less moose in an already shrinking population.

Quote of the Trip: This one is a slam dunk - "It is illegal to drink beer in Ontario" - Conservation Warden on Saturday afternoon.

The Adventures of Gunflint Jones

I headed up the Gunflint Trail this past weekend to do some lake trout fishing. We stayed in a comfortable cabin, living the good life without the confining winter tent. Joining me were the Captain, the Chief, Rocket Man, Ice, and the newly renamed Gunflint Jones (she had been Officer Friendly). We arrived before noon on Friday and got the gear settled, the snowmachines running, and the sleds loaded. We all took off in different directions and set up our portable fishhouses on the lake, which had a little over 2 feet of ice and a good amount of fluffy snow on it. I fished with Gunflint Jones so that I could get her up to speed with the laker fishing operation. We only had one bite all afternoon, and it spit Gunflint's hook after a few seconds. It was quite cold and windy that day. Other members of the party all caught at least one lake trout. We met back up in the cabin and enjoyed some appetizers, a martini, and some wild rice hotdish (aka "casserole" for you non-Minnesotans). Apparently there was some snoring in the night, but I didn't hear any.

Saturday morning dawned much colder than forecast.... minus 32 degrees. We took our time getting ready to fish hoping for a quick warm up. We finally got the machines running and hit the lake. Gunflint Jones decided to fish near the cabin, the rest of us took a fairly lengthy run to a favorite point. The sun was out and the wind was calm, so it warmed up nicely during the day. The fish didn't warm up, and we only caught 1 or 2 fish apiece. I didn't get one until the last second...I had everything packed up except the rod - I left the jig down while I packed. When I went to reel it in to quit fishing, a fish nailed it on the way up. Not a big fish, but it was fun to catch it at the last possible instant. It was a cold run back to the cabin where we found out that Gunflint had shared her spot with a bunch of other people and didn't get any trout up the hole. We enjoyed chili that evening and had some laughs.

On Sunday, it started cold and clear, but a strong south wind was blowing and the temp was rising. We cruised up the lake and dropped Gunflint off at a proven spot and then moved to a far away point. Rocket Man caught the biggest trout of his life - a heavy 31 inch lake trout. We all had action through the morning and early afternoon getting some pretty decent fish. I had a flurry late in the day, getting four trout in short succession. It was blowing and snowing as we packed up and cruised back to pick up Gunflint Jones. She had her best trout day ever-five nice fish, including a 27" or so fish. She had several other trout on, but they spit the hook, so she had some really fast action. She had been visited by the Game Warden...I wonder how many times he visited an ice house and find a woman, fishing alone, with a couple of nice lake trout gutted and gilled on the ice. Pretty cool stuff. We decided the Gunflint Trail was a good spot for her, so Gunflint Jones became her name (the Jones just fits it well). We cruised back to the cabin and relived our productive day. We had a fried lake trout and Northern Waters Smokehaus salami appetizer and then a tasty lake trout jambalaya.

We all fished close to the cabin on Monday morning, with a couple of trout caught. It was warm and a drizzle began to fall as we packed up the snowmachines and gear. We hit the road and stopped for lunch before cruising back to Duluth. The icy drizzle caught a few people as several cars were in the ditch between Two Harbors and Duluth. We got the gear sorted out and we went on our separate ways. It was a fun trip even though the fish only really cooperated on one of the four days. It was fun to see how excited Gunflint Jones was on her big fishing day.

The next trip will likely be the first weekend of March, not sure where I will be headed yet.

Nature Moment: It was quiet on the lake for the most part, but on the way home we did spot a Great Gray Owl on a tree top along the highway. These interesting birds sometimes come down from Canada in winters when the mice and vole population dips north of the border. They are big bodied birds, but they weigh very little, which helps their silent hunting flights.

Relaxation Destination - Ontario

I had a fun weekend up north of the border last week. The Colonel and I left a day earlier than others due to a work thing I did on the way to the border. We crossed the border in the truck and, again, we were delayed and searched. I can't ever get through there cleanly. Of course, there was no issue and we were soon on our way. We had considered doing some fishing that evening, but the overnight low had been -36 and it was still -15 when we arrived at the lodge. So we scrapped fishing and got the room organized, talked with the owners a bit, broiled some ribeyes (we couldn't grill them because the propane had gummed up in the extreme cold), and had some laughs.

Friday dawned cold and sunny after a night that brought about 5 inches of fluffy snow. The snowmachine started, but it was a chilling ride to the chosen fishing spot. The Colonel got set up on a proven point and I did some exploring nearby, but finally set up near him. he caught a decent lake trout after a bit and we were off to a good start. The sun soon disappeared behind clouds and the day became quite cold. The others (the Lieutenant, the Captain, the Chief, and a new member, the Rocket Man) joined us later that afternoon. The Colonel caught a dandy 30" lake trout soon after they arrived, the biggest trout he had ever caught. The Captain also caught a very nice fish. I caught only two tiny fish all day, the others went fishless. It was an extremely cold ride back to the lodge at sundown. We caught up with each other around the table and enjoyed a tasty pasta dish.

Saturday morning was warmer and cloudy. We got organized and took off down the lake to a spot I hadn't been to before, but the Chief said he had been with other friends that had done well there, even getting a big muskie through the ice the year before. The Colonel and I had a heckuva time finding a fishy looking spot that was out of the cold wind. We finally settled in an area with a subtle point and shallow bay nearby. We didn't have a lot of confidence in our spots. That feeling came true for the Colonel, he didn't sniff a fish all day. I was luckier fishing directly in front of the bay in 40 feet of water. I had 9 fish hit over the course of the day, but only managed to get three lake trout through the hole, a 29", 28", and a 25". Lake trout are very good at shaking the hook, especially when trying to get their head started up the hole. My luck changed how I look at lake trout spots...I may look for bay mouths in the future. The Captain also caught a nice trout, but all the others were skunked. Pretty slow day overall. The sun came out, low on the horizon, just as we were heading back to the lodge. The Colonel had slow cooked a bone-in shoulder ham while we fished, and it was delicious with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and sauteed cabbage. The cabbage was a brave move...

It was sunny and warm on Sunday, pushing 30 degrees. The trout should have been snapping, but again it was slow. I had lost a fish right away, but only had one more bite until I was packing up my gear at sundown. I saw some activity on my flasher screen right before I was going to shut it off, and I ended up getting a 27" laker. The Colonel had a similar experience, getting his only trout while he was packing. The Chief got a nice trout and had a few hits, as did the Captain. The Rocket Man only had one bite and it turned out to be a very large muskie that he had all the way through the hole when it shook, cut the line, and disappeared back down to the depths. Shucks. The Lieutenant also was fishless after losing a couple fish after hook up. It was a nice warm trip back to the lodge riding on the new fluffy snow. It was lasagna for supper.

Monday morning was warm, but damp, and even a drizzle at times. I fished right out from the lodge and had a fish on for a second before losing it, but that was the only sign of fish for the entire group. We got packed up around noon, loaded the machines, and hit the road. I arrived home to my Awesome Wife and Super Kid, which is always a good thing. It was a fun weekend with great friends, but fishing was slow. The Lieutenant and the Rocket Man didn't land a fish in four days, and they are talented anglers. The rest of us caught a few fish, but less than we are accustomed to getting. We may have to give that lake a break for a while.

Nature Moment: On Sunday, we had all agreed to go to a certain bay to fish. Some folks went around an island to the west, some went to the east. I went the east way, but set up to fish near the west trail. I noticed that the west trail users' snowmachine tracks were wet and filling with water. Then I noticed the tons of otter tracks around the area. A concentration of otters in winter can only mean one thing - open water. They need the openings to access the lake to fish. I examined the area closer and there indeed was some very thin ice and some open water. The users of the west trail had come close to taking a swim with the otters. This was an area that, when looking at map, is not an obvious spot to have open water. Goes to show you need to be careful at all times.

Sorry for the Lapse...Here are Some Reports...Including Alaska

To my many fans...sorry I have been lax in posting, it has been a busy six months. I'll be better about posting as the winter season progresses. Here are some reports from late in 2012...

In August, we had the adventure of a lifetime as Awesome Wife and I left Super Kid with my folks and met my in-laws in Alaska. We spent 8 days on the Nepenthe, a 60 foot boat out of Sitka. It was just the 6 of us, the Captain, and a cook. The trip was perfect, as we lucked out with great weather and unbelievable wildlife encounters. We toured the southeast Alaskan mountains, channels, waterfalls, hot springs, and villages. We got up close to bears, whales, Orcas, porpoises, sea lions, sea otters, and more. We met a few true Alaskan characters and, of course, caught some fish. I hooked into coho, chum, and pink salmon as well as rockfish and other smaller species. We ate several of the catch right on board. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I suggest you go to the following sites to see video slideshows:

Short, Scenic Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oar_z69nbVY

Longer, More Informative Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_SOvcONsc0

I recommend Captain Mike and the Nepenthe to anyone wanting an intimate, real experience in southeast Alaska at a price that is more affordable than nearly any other tour boat in the area. Go to: http://alakadventures.com/

September ended with a traditional trip to the Gunflint area in Cook County, Minnesota, for a little lake trout fishing. Unfortunately, that is just what I found...small lake trout. I was joined by Captain K and his son, and we did have a lot of fun with good weather.

In October I went with several of the gang to the Chief's remote cabin. We had snow and unseasonably cold temps, so fishing was not a primary activity, but we did catch some northern pike. We also test fired some guns, checked out deer stands, and the Colonel resurrected the camp's cast iron cookware. It was a fun, relaxing time.

November brought house projects and family events, but I did get out in December. Early December found me camping solo with the canvas tent and wood stove at a walleye/perch lake, but a snowstorm drove me home before finding the fish. I rung in New Year's in the tent as well, ice fishing just north of Duluth and enjoying the wood heat in a cold snap. I caught a few decent walleyes among many tiny ones and my friend who joined me for a day caught a 15" crappie. It was a fun time and being able to drive the truck on the lake made it easy to camp on the island.

Watch for more reports soon!