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Fishing in Minnesota

An eclectic guide to the State Sport

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A Return to Simpler Fishing

It happens to me a lot. I'm out on one of the many Metro lakes fishing and I see guys in their boats, heads down, watching their locator as they hunt for a fishing spot. They aren't looking at the lake...they're looking at a little LCD screen.

More often than not, I don't see them boating fish. What's the deal? We spend hundreds of dollars on electronics for our boats and still don't catch fish. Well, there are a lot of reasons, but the main one is that electronics do not catch fish...anglers catch fish.

Now, I have an LCD locator in my boat. It's ancient, and serves more to tell me how deep the water is than anything else. I use it...sometimes, but just to find depths. I don't know if it shows fish or not, and don't much care.

What I do, on familiar lakes or ones I've never fished before, is look at the lake. Over there is a point. Over here is a weedy area with some inside and outside curves. I notice what time of day it is and the wind and the temperature. 

I see the inlet, where a creek flows into the lake. All of these are signs...and they're signs that work better than any LCD display. They're the old signs, and they're still just as accurate as any fish locator. Yes, I do need to know the depth of the water, and when my LCD stops working, as it does far too often, I can find the depth anyhow...the way I've always done it, with an egg sinker on the end of a line.

Recently, while fishing at Bald Eagle lake, I was trying to figure out where the fish were that day. As usual, I was interested in bass and northerns. I saw about ten boats on the lake that morning, and watched them for a bit. Nobody was catching much, other than some panfish. So, I turned my attention to the water. About 300 yards from where I was sitting, baitfish were breaking the water. Not a lot of them, as in a feeding frenzy of some sort...just a few splashes.

Now, it wasn't a part of the lake I normally fished...certainly not one of my hotspots, and had I been staring at an LCD screen, I never would have noticed the tiny splashes at all. So, I used the electric trolling motor to quietly move over near that area, then twisted the AnchorMate's button. It was a fairly shallow area, early in July, and I knew it to be weedy, but the weeds hadn't broken the surface yet. 

So, I picked up the rod that had a spinnerbait on a short wire leader, and flicked it out past where I had seen the splashes. Just a few turns of the reel handle, and I was into a really nice northern for that lake. I netted and released it, then cast again. This time, a nice largemouth...maybe 2.5 lbs...smashed the chartreuse spinnerbait. I caught several more northerns and bass by fan-casting that whole weedy patch. 

In the meantime, the guys in the other boats started noticing that someone on the lake was actually catching fish, and a couple of them started moving toward the area. That was my cue to crank up the anchor and move on. I'm sort of a solitary fisherman.

The point here is that you can have all the electronics in the world in your boat, and still get skunked. At the same time, some other guy on the water may be hauling 'em in right and left, even without electronics. 

Sometimes, old-fashioned fishing skills and reading the water are more valuable than the most expensive electronics you can buy. Look up from time to time and see the lake, rather than your LCD underwater view. Use the clues that Dad and Granddad used to catch those huge stringers of fish back in the days before all that technology. They still work, and sometimes will turn a fishless day into something memorable.
7/24/07

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Are We Fishing Prostitutes?

Update (7/23/07) The Star-Tribune's story on this issue had a link to a long and interesting discussion thread on this subject on the Fishing Minnesota website.  In that discussion, many good points were raised. Sadly, the entire thread was deleted without explanation. If we cannot discuss issues regarding public access and the DNR, then we are lost. I regret that the discussion was deleted. I found nothing in it that was inflammatory. It was merely a discussion of the situation. It is, however, notable, that one of the moderators of that forum has a website regarding a resort on Mille Lacs. Check for yourself.

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Huh? Prostitutes? Anglers? What the heck am I talking about?

Well, if you're up at Mille Lacs, and read the Mille Lacs Messenger newspaper, you'd find out that all of us who come up from the Cities and use the public launch sites there are, indeed, prostitutes. That's according to Aitkin County Commissioner Paul Bailey, who wants to talk the DNR into not building any new public accesses there. He thinks we're prostitutes.

Terry Thurmer, owner of Terry's Boat Harbor, wants the public accesses on Mille Lacs closed or fees charged for their use. Odd...I thought my fishing license fees helped pay for them.  He went on to say that we come up there, use the public accesses, bring our own gas, then take our fish and go. What he means, I think, is that we're not paying Terry Thurmer for the right to fish on his lake. He pretty much said so, when he also used the word prostitutes to describe us. As quoted in the Messenger, he said, "You are making it really easy for them and make it really hard for us to make a business. We need to keep the fishing prostitutes away from public access." You can't get much clearer than that.

The DNR wasn't all that amused by the statements of Thurmer and Bailey. They weren't buying it, just like anglers won't be paying for Thurmer's facilities in the future. At least not this angler.

All this stems from the reduction in the slot size at Mille Lacs, due to the excellent fishing that's been going on there this season. The reduced slot limit will now limit the number of folks heading for the lake, unless they're like me and fish strictly catch and release.

Here are some hints for the business owners in Mille Lacs who have so much disdain for anglers who come to fish their lake:

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It ain't your lake! Like all lakes in Minnesota, it belongs to all residents.

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We paid for those public accesses, not you. You don't get to control them.

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Calling anglers "prostitutes" is not going to improve your business.

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I'm canceling my reservation.

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IT'S NOT YOUR LAKE!

Grow up, folks in Mille Lacs. Get over yourselves. You don't like folks fishing on your lake, but not spending a fortune in your community? Get friendly. Make your resorts, restaurants, and bars so inviting that folks will want to come there. Don't call us "prostitutes."  Prostitutes take money for their services, you know. If that doesn't sound familiar, have another look in the mirror.
7/23/07

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Mark & Larry Take a Vacation

Update (7/24/07). I am informed that Larry showed up at 8 PM for the show, so only the first hour was a rerun. I shut it off as soon as I learned that it was a rerun. The bulk of the rest of the show, apparently, was a reaction to the Mille Lacs story I detailed above.

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OK, it's July 22nd, 2007. It's 7 P.M. What do you expect? Mark and Larry's Bear Facts and Fish Tails on KSTP, AM1500? Not tonight. Mark and Larry are nowhere to be heard. They're running an undated "Best of" program. 

So what does this rerun start with? Why, the weather, of course. What weather? When? Well, it's sometime in the past. It has nothing to do with the weather this week.

C'mon you two! It's the heart of fishing season, and you're nowhere to be found. I mean, I'm not sure it matters all that much. It'll be the same old fishing report from Mille Lacs, and Rainy Lake and other places most of us aren't fishing. Same old call-ins from your loyal sponsors. Same old...same old.

Mark and Larry: Are you tired of this fishing show? Do you only care, now, about your sponsors. Is the only bait shop of any quality the one you so prominently mention on your show? What of the other several dozen bait shops in Minnesota. Are they chopped liver?

I've called in several times. I'm George from Saint Paul. What about fishing in the metro? What about the local lakes, for those of us who will never get to Rainy? How's fishing here? Any tips? Or is your show all about your sponsors, from resorts and guide services, to the one and only bait shop you ever mention?

There's more to Minnesota fishing than your sponsors. Let's talk about that for a change. What about the guys who can't afford to hire The Griz or Fairly Reliable Fishing? What are we to do? 

I'm a fisherman. I have a 12' aluminum boat. I fish lakes in the northeast metro. I don't hire guides...heck, I can't even afford an outboard that runs reliably. But, I fish. I shop at the local bait shops, including my favorite, Blue Ribbon Baits. Have you heard of them? They're close to the Metro lakes...they have a complete selection of bait plus everything else you need. Are they chopped liver?

I'm not surprised that you guys have lost your affiliate stations. You don't seem to care all that much. Larry has retired, and Mark, well, you're so busy promoting Rapala that you seem to have forgotten all those folks who have listened to you for all these years.

Are you bored? Are you tired? Then give up your show. Don't come on and talk about the weather two weeks or two months ago. It's not helpful. 

How's the fishing at White Bear Lake? Are the muskies hitting at Bald Eagle? How's Pool Two doing? We ain't fishing Mille Lacs. We aren't even going over to Minnetonka all that much. We're fishing our local lakes. What's working on those lakes?

Give us real, useful information, or get off the freaking air, boys. If you're bored, quit and give the air time to people who fish in Minnesota. Don't sell us a boat. Don't sell us a Dodge truck. Don't sell us anything. Tell us how and where to fish better.

I'm tired of your tired show. I'm a fisherman. I want to find out how to be a better one. I will never fish Mille Lacs. I will never fish Rainy. I will certainly never fish any lake where my boat might get confiscated, like Red Lake..

Either give us useful information, or give it up. I'm sure there are dozens of folks who would love to take over your show. So show up! Don't run a rerun during the peak of fishing season. Get real! 
7/22/07

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Remembering Herter's -- An Iconoclast's History

While browsing around on eBay the other day, I encountered something I'd forgotten about for a long time. Someone was selling a copy of a 1974 Herter's Catalog. Remember Herter's? They were probably the largest mail-order source for outdoor equipment, hunting and fishing gear, and more, in the world back in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.

Located right here in Minnesota, in Waseca, to be precise, Herter's was an eclectic company, run by George Leonard Herter. The Herter's Catalog went out all over the world, and was a dream book for hunters and fishermen, not to mention trappers and others, for decades. 

I remember poring through the Herter's Catalog when it showed up in the mail each year. I was out in California back then, and that catalog, full of overblown hyperbole, made me envision life in the far North, trekking through the backwoods, fighting off mosquitoes and black flies, in search of huge muskies and other exotic game.

Well, I finally moved to Minnesota, and soon discovered that Waseca is closer to the cornfields of Iowa than it is to Rainy Lake. Oh, well...it doesn't matter. Herter's was the book of dreams in my youth and early 20s.

Herter's is gone now...sold to Cabela's sometime in the late 70s or early 80s. The big Cabela's store near Owatonna isn't all that far from the original Herters locatin in Waseca, really. Herter's had a store in Mitchell, South Dakota, too. Sure enough...there's a Cabela's there, as well.

George Herter is gone, too. He was a flamboyant fellow, prone to exaggeration and flights of fancy. Reading his catalogs...all written by him...you get a feel for the man's enthusiasm. In fact, he had so much enthusiasm about his products that I remember being kind of disappointed when my package would arrive and the contents were just ordinary fishing lures, instead of the bejeweled wonders he described. I got over it, though, and went fishing with them.

Everything in the Herter's Catalog was ultra modern, and of the best quality, or so claimed George Herter. He took credit for the design of things he didn't design sometimes. He copied lots of stuff, then gave it names that were reminiscent of the actual producers. He sold copies of the famous Mepp's spinner lure, made in France, and renamed it the Pepp's spinner. His Finland Minnows were dead ringers for Rapalas, produced in Finland. He didn't fool anyone, and probably didn't really mean to. It was all marketing, and he was a brilliant marketer in his day.

George Leonard Herter was also an author, and the same flamboyant style in his catalog was evident in his books. Probably his most famous was Bull Cook And Historical Recipes And Practices, a recipe book laced heavily with his odd, and sometimes bizarre, philosophy. In that book, you'll discover that the favorite recipe of the Virgin Mary was spinach, sauteed in butter. Really! If it were not so, George L. Herter would have told you.

Herter was a survivalist, of sorts, evident in his book, How to Get Out of The Rat Race And Live on $10 A Month. He even wrote a marriage manual, of sorts, called, How to Live with A Bitch, which isn't quite as misogynistic as it sounds. 

Herter's motto, as printed on the bottom of every page of his 1974 catalog, was: "Where wildlife cannot live, humans cannot survive." You can't argue with that one. There's no biography of George Leonard Herter, but his life is in his catalogs and his books. I've just bought a few of his books from used booksellers. I'm looking forward to reading them.

We have too few flamboyant iconoclasts around these days. George Leonard Herter was one such person. Perhaps it's time for someone to write a biography of him. I'd think a good place to start would be Waseca. I'm sure the older residents there could tell some stories.
7/3/07

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A Perfect Day on Bald Eagle Lake

Bald Eagle Lake, just north of White Bear Lake, is pretty much my home lake. I fish in other spots, but I keep coming back to Bald Eagle. Yesterday (6/5/07) looked pretty promising, so I hitched up the NOTLUND and headed for the lake in the morning. It's time for fishing to pick up, and the lake didn't disappoint.

I spent a little time with a ScumFrog in the lily pads near the boat launch, and hooked up with a nice (if a bit small) bass in a great surface strike. Not much luck after that in the lily pads, though, so I motored over to Cigar Island. North of the Island is a fairly broad expanse of weeds in depths from 8-10 feet of water. I noticed a lot of surface activity from small baitfish, probably golden shiners, and figured it might work out as a fishing spot.

Casting a variety of crankbaits and running them just over the weeds brought in three largemouths, with the largest being about 2.5 lb., and three Northerns. The largest northern was close to 30" long, and gave my medium spinning tackle with 6 lb. test line a good workout. I was the only one fishing that area, and got watched by the other anglers in different locations. I'm sure the spot got hit by some others after I left, since I didn't see a lot of action elsewhere. As I always do, I released all the fish to be caught again.

To cap the day off, I got to watch a bald eagle come off the island and lift a 10" largemouth out of the water about 50 feet from my boat. Add that to a perfectly calm day, beautiful, non-threatening clouds overhead, the sound of loons, and it was a perfect day of fishing. There was even a nice landing by a float plane that a resident of the lakeshore keeps tied up to his dock there. I could have been in northern Minnesota.

We Minnesotans are blessed beyond measure with beautiful lakes right in the Metro. Less than a half an hour from my home, and I get to fish on a great lake. I'm so glad I moved here. Go fishing, everyone! It doesn't get any better than this!
6/6/07

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A Few Thoughts on Urban Kids and Fishing

This past week, I ventured down to the public dock on Harriet Island for some Mississippi River catfishing. I didn't have much luck, but it was a good day, nevertheless. Several nice folks wandered down to inquire about my luck, and I enjoyed talking to them and sitting on the dock in the sun.

Later in the afternoon, around 1:30 P.M., about a dozen teenagers came bustling down to the end of the dock where I was fishing. I'd guess they ranged in age from 14 to 16, and it was a mixed group of boys and girls in a rainbow assortment of skin colors. One boy had spiked hair, tinted red. Trousers hung low on the hips of a couple others. A motley crew, to be sure.

They were boisterous, noisy, and carried fishing poles of various vintages and qualities. The oldest (I think) of the group had a large tacklebox, full of tackle, looking like it had been assembled from castoffs from relatives, etc.

Now, I do like my solitude while fishing, since it's a contemplative activity for me, But, hey, I'm in a public place, and the kids were talkative, asking me about my luck and asking questions about my tackle. How could I be annoyed when all that energy was out there on the dock?

After lots of confusion, teenage bantering, and general hilarity, the fishing began. One kid had a bobber on with a fluorescent yellow plastic worm. Another was casting a red and white Daredevil. Another one, with an ancient closed-face reel, barely had enough line to drop his hook in the water. None of that mattered. Advice was exchanged between the kids, some new line was wound on the ancient Zebco, and the fun went on.

One of the girls, a kid about 15 or so, wasn't fishing and came over to where I was and asked what I was using for bait. I showed her the jar of my usual stinkbait (the one that will make your nose wrinkle even with the lid on) and told her it was stinkbait. "Huh?" she said. "Stinkbait?" I explained about catfish and their penchant for eating things that were long dead.

"Can I smell it?" she asked. "Sure," I said, "but it really stinks bad." She opened the lid on the jar, took a big whiff. "Whoa, man! That stuff's rude!" She then took the jar around to all of the kids, each of whom smelled the stuff. I almost fell off my folding chair, laughing. The kids were all laughing, too.

Well, I had been there for about three hours already, and it was time for me to head home. I gave the kids some of the stink bait in a styrofoam cup, and gave a few 1 oz. sinkers to the kid with the tacklebox, since he had complained about not having big enough sinkers. I added a brand new package of catfish hooks, and took my leave, to a bunch of friendly goodbyes.

I hope they had better luck than I did. I don't think they cared any more than I did, though, about actually catching fish. They were there for the fishing, just as I was.

That afternoon got me thinking, though. We say nice words about encouraging our youth to take up angling, and form organizations to "Take a kid fishing," and the like. For a lot of anglers, though, the appearance of this brash bunch of urban kids would have caused some consternation and annoyance. Sometimes, we say one thing, but only in lip service to the idea.

These were good kids. They didn't look like nice, suburban kids, though...the ones you see in the DNR brochures, fishing with their dad in the boat. They were, however, anglers, just like the rest of us. Young. Inexperienced. Eager. I thoroughly enjoyed my encounter with the group, and I suspect they thought I was this nice, funny, old white-haired dude with the stinky bait. We got along just fine.

I wonder, though, what will happen when they get past the age of 16. Will they continue to fish when it means spending $20 or so to buy a license? I doubt it. I think it may well be time to raise the age for license-free fishing to 18. Let the kids graduate from high school and get their first jobs, so they can afford that fishing license.

Unlike a lot of anglers, I still find pleasure in fishing from the shore, or from a fishing pier here in the Metro. For many urban anglers, that's their only place to fish. Boats are expensive. I've encountered lots of very nice folks fishing on the public docks in the cities. I hope to meet more of them over the years. 

If you readers happen to find yourself on a fishing pier or fishing from shore, and a group of rowdy kids shows up with poles, I hope you won't pack up and leave. They aren't there to bother you...they're going fishing. Talk with them. Listen to them.  Give away some stuff to them. Teach them a trick or two to help them catch fish. These kids are our future anglers. 
6/4/07

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Boating Tragedy on Mississippi

Every year about this time, we hear about a boating tragedy. This time, four people died when their 12' aluminum boat was caught in the heavy current below Lock and Dam No. 7. Two adults and two children were the victims.

Tragedies like this are horrendous for the victims and their families, and affect fellow boaters. We all love to go on the water, for recreation or fishing, and we all expect to come home safely.

I use a 12' aluminum boat myself, complete with a small, semi-reliable outboard. I think about safety even more in my tiny little boat than I would in a larger craft, and with good reason. Let's look at this tragedy and see if we can figure out how it might have been avoided.

First, my 12' boat is rated for three people, and it's crowded with that many. I won't ever put more than one other person in it. Second, it does not go on rivers, especially below a lock and dam. It's just too darned small and slow for that use. I'll use it during the week on Lake St. Croix, but I keep near the shore and am always on the lookout for larger boats and their wakes.

The Mississippi? Not a chance. I've seen the wakes the barges throw up. Not for me.

Part of the reason for this boating accident was that the boat was anchored quite close to the dam. Fishing's good there, no doubt, but it's a dangerous spot for a tiny, overloaded boat. When the boater pulled up his anchor, he may have gotten the anchor rope tangled in the outboard's prop. For whatever reason, he couldn't get his outboard started and the boat got sucked in by the current near the dam.

Fishing on the river is exciting. It's a great place to catch numerous species of fish. It's a horrible place for small aluminum boats. There are many lakes in this wonderful state, and the smaller lakes are ideal for outings in 12' aluminum boats. That's where I take mine.

I'm so sorry that this tragedy occurred. I'm deeply saddened by it. I'll be especially careful this season, and hope all my readers use extreme caution while boating.
5/13/07

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Boat Hit by Barge -- A Cautionary Tale

A guy and his dog had to swim for it yesterday in the Minnesota River south of Bloomington. The boat got slammed by a barge while the guy was trying to get his motor running. Both the guy and the dog are OK, but the boat isn't.

Fishing the rivers is fun, but it's no place for a boat with a balky motor. Barges can't stop or steer around you, so you need to make sure your boat's engine will start whenever you need it to start, or limit your fishing to the lake.

Those of you who read this blog know that I have a funky boat, with a funkier outboard. The outboard will always start, but it can take numerous pulls. I'm working on it, but there it is. So, I stay off the river. I'll continue to do that until I have an outboard that fires on the first pull...everytime. It's not just a good idea. It could save my life.

As we enter the boating season for this year, we're going to hear about lots of boating accidents, almost all of which could be prevented with some common sense and by following the boating rules. We have several tragedies every year from boating accidents. Don't be a statistic, please. I need all my readers!
4/15/07

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Fishing for....Squirrels?

Like every other open water angler in Minnesota, I've begun thinking about getting ready for this Spring's fishing season. I'm already sharpening the hooks on my lures, spooling new line on my vast accumulation of rods and reels, and re-reading all the fishing books in the house. It's time for anticipation, especially with the weather starting to warm up.

There's just one thing, and it's potentially a real problem for this year's Opener. As regular readers know, I fish from a small, 12' aluminum boat, for reasons of economy. Back in November, I emptied the boat out, put the outboard in the basement, along with the battery and charger for the electric trolling motor. Then, I turned the boat upside down on the trailer so it would shed the snow that was supposed to show up. 

I have all sorts of plans for the boat this year. I'll be installing some carpeting to quiet my footsteps, and a new seat in the back to support my back while I run the outboard. So, yesterday, I went out and looked longingly at my boat, yearning for open water.

Suddenly, a small gray shape burst out from under the boat, ran between my legs and headed up the big maple tree in the yard. What!?! Once I settled down from the surprise, it occurred to me to look under the boat.

There's a squirrel nest under the bow seat of the boat. A squirrel nest! Now, this is precisely the time of year when the pesky little tree rats are playing sexy little chase games, leading to...wait for it...lots of fresh little baby squirrels.

So, what to do? Those young squirrels often don't make an appearance away from the nest until after the Opener. I mentioned the nest to my wife, who reckoned I might have to start my fishing late this year. Yeah...right!

Now, I like squirrels. I do. I even fed them all winter on peanuts in the shell. I like to watch them scramble around. But...I have no interest whatever in teaching squirrels to fish, or in giving them rides in my boat. Never mind that a young squirrel might make decent muskie bait.

So, I think I'll head out this week, when the weather's warm, and remove the next. Mom will just have to find another place to raise this Spring's brood, I think. I just won't tell my wife, who might get all worried that the poor little critter won't have time to build a new nest.

Yeah...that's the ticket!
2/19/07

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State Senator Introduces Disastrous Lake Weed Bill

Minnesota state senator Gen Olson (R) of Minnetrista has introduced SF0506, a bill regarding lake weeds and their removal by lakeshore property owners. The contents of this bill have the potential to drastically impact the littoral plant life in lakes throughout the state, and not in a good way.

The main provision of the bill would require the DNR to issue permits, on the request of lakeshore owners, to destroy weeds in an area 100' wide by 150' long in littoral waters adjoining their property. That's 15,000 square feet that would be denuded of vegetation. On lakes heavily infested with lakeshore homes, this could easily mean that most of the weedline could be destroyed by adjoining property owners.

For anglers, this would be a catastrophic disaster, destroying the very nursery for the fish in these lakes. No baby fish...no fishing in the very near future.

I'm betting that Senator Olsen has one of those lakeside homes there on Minnetonka. And those pesky weeds, you know...they are just nasty. The grandkids can't swim off the dock because those weeds...well...you just don't know what diseases the kids might get, right? Plus, you try to take the cruiser out for a day of wakeboarding and the like, and the water intakes for the engine just get all clogged up. It's a darned shame!

Senator Olson: The lake is not yours. Yes, you own the land down to the mean high water line, but the rest of the citizens of the state of Minnesota own that lake. Not you. Not your neighbors on the lakeshore. Not your campaign contributors. The lake, its waters, and the lake bottom belong to the citizens of the state of Minnesota.

I'm sure it's very nice to have a home on the shores of Minnetonka. I can't afford such a home, since I'm just a humble working man. Still, I admire those homes as I cast into and along the edge of the weeds in the lake in front of them. I catch largemouth bass there, and northern pike, too. Sometimes, when I'm feeling lazy, I'll drop my anchor and fish for sunfish and crappie on the edge of the weedline. I like to fish. I release just about all the fish I catch, so that others will be able to enjoy fishing as much as I do.

I'll bet you don't like seeing my little aluminum boat anchored in the lake in front of your house, either. I'm sorta scruffy when I'm fishing, and my crummy old boat is, well, a bit unsightly, I must admit. Still, I don't try to cast my lures under your dock. I could, legally, but I don't, since I do respect your privacy and property.

It's a shame that you don't respect the very lake you live on. It's not your lake, you know. It belongs to me, and everyone else in the state. It's not yours, so you don't get to exclude riff-raff like me from fishing in it. It's not yours, so you don't get to destroy the fish nursery that the weeds create. It's not yours, so you don't get to eradicate the life in the lake.

To readers: It's probably a waste of time to contact Senator Gen Olson, since she introduced this disaster of a bill. You can, though. Her email address is sen.gen.olson@senate.mn. However, I do recommend that you contact your own state senator and house member. Tell them that you don't want to destroy the life in our wonderful lake resources. Tell them that you fish there, and enjoy the lakes you help pay to preserve. Tell them to just say no to Gen Olson and SF0506.

Don't wait! The bill is at the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, right now for discussion. Let's stop this stupid bill before it ever even comes to a vote. You can find your state senator at this link.  You can find the names of the members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, including Gen Olson, at this link.

Don't delay. Send an email today!
2/12/07

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Big Ice-Fishing Show This Weekend

If you're impatiently waiting for the hard water to appear so you can freeze your butt off trying to catch some fish through the ice, you'll want to take in the 14th Annual Ice Fishing Show at the River Centre in Saint Paul this weekend. Running from Friday through Sunday, the show features equipment, seminars, speakers, travel opportunities, and lots more. For just $7.50, it's cheap thrills, until this week's frigid weather hardens up the lakes.

Click Here for details on seminars and times.
11/30/06

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Bass Pro Shop in Mall of America?

It could happen. The Mall of America is planning a big expansion, with construction to begin sometime next year. Among the anchor stores planned is a 300,000 sq. ft. Bass Pro Shop. This would be big news for anglers in the Twin Cities Metro, but potentially bad news for Cabela's and Gander Mountain.

With the two Cabela's stores located a good distance from most Metro residents, the new Bass Pro Shop would be a powerful attraction to local anglers and sportsmen. This shop, huge in size, would prove a serious competitor for the much smaller Gander Mountain stores. Being so close to the cities, a Bass Pro Shop would make a lot of anglers think twice about driving to Rogers or Owatonna, too, to visit the equally impressive Cabela's stores.

Worse for the competitors, and much, much better for consumers, A Bass Pro Shop at MOA would cut down on the number of men wandering around MOA, looking for a store that had anything of interest for sale. While the family browses through the many shops at MOA, the angler in the family would now have someplace to go for those normally boring hours.

I'm for it!
11/28/06

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Eurasian Milfoil Spread by Ducks? Who Knew?

For a long time, Minnesota anglers and recreational boaters have been giving their boats and trailers a good going over after retrieving from the many lakes in the state already infested with the evil Eurasian Milfoil. They have to. There's a serious fine if you're caught with fragments of the worrisome weed on your boat or trailer. 

Still, more and more lakes have ended up infested with the wily water plant. We won't get into a discussion today about the actual damage caused by Eurasian Milfoil.  It's questionable, and the bass and northerns love it.

The news, now, is that the pesky plant has shown up in several Metro lakes that don't even allow boating. That sent DNR officials to their cubicles to scratch their heads. What the heck? Were people carrying the slimy stuff in and maliciously planting it in these small lakes?

That seems unlikely, although anglers are the most often blamed culprits for the spread of the noxious water plant. But if not anglers, who? Maybe the question should be what? It turns out that the DNR folks now think it's ducks and other waterfowl who are spreading the filthy foliage around the Metro.

Ducks? Waterfowl? Who'd've thunk it? Oh, wait....let's see. Ducks and geese and other waterfowl freely fly from lake to pond to lake. A little bit of plant on a webbed foot, and there you have it. Could it be that ducks have been spreading the pernicious plant all along? Is it possible that boaters and anglers aren't the only ones at fault? So it would seem.

Perhaps the DNR should get into the business of checking duck's feet for fragments of milfoil as they take off from infested waters. Conservation officers could spy on the ducks with binoculars at lakeshores, then cite the offending ducks for violation of the law. Even better, equip the COs with shotguns and have them eradicate the offenders.

Trouble is, PETA would be offended by this program. PETA is offended by everything. Maybe an education program for waterfowl would be more effective. The DNR could put solar-powered television sets on the shorelines of infested lakes, running continuous versions of the ads we're so familiar with. If that's too expensive, there are radio versions of the same ads.

I'm just sayin....
9/18/06

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Milfoil in Lake Superior? All is Lost!

It's all over. Wisconsin DNR officials have discovered eurasian milfoil in Lake Superior, in Twin Ports, right on the border. With this intrusion of the exotic species, it's beginning to look like the battle against the encroacher may have been lost.

While I don't want exotic species of anything in Minnesota waters, eurasian milfoil is one of the least offensive transplants, in my opinion. Still, it's one more in a long line of imports, and that's not a good thing, even if the largemouths, panfish, and pike don't seem to mind the stuff.

So, it looks like you can add Lake Superior to the many lakes in Minnesota that will force you to go over your boat with the proverbial fine-toothed comb, looking for the plant before heading back out on the highway.
9/4/06

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Fishing on a Budget -- It Really Is Possible

Like a large number of Twin City area residents, I listened last evening to "Bear Facts and Fish Tales," on KSTP, AM-1500. Hosts Mark Fisher and Larry Bollig, as usual, provided their usual mix of fishing tips and calls from listeners. Also, as usual, they took some calls from the usual cast of fishing guides.

I learn a lot from the show, and apply some of it to my own fishing, but I was struck last night with something that has bothered me for quite a while. It's not just "Bear Facts and Fish Tales," but the entire industry of fishing journalism that does something bothersome to me.

Mark and Larry, last night, were bemoaning the decrease in the number of anglers over the past few decades and were rightly worried about the fate of angling in Minnesota (and elsewhere) if more folks don't take up the sport. The future of fishing really does depend on maintaining a large, active set of anglers. Without them, revenue from license sales goes down, as does the political influence wielded by the mass of anglers. Hunters have the same situation in their sport, but I'm an angler, not a hunter, so that's where I'm going to go in this article.

Mark and Larry, as do we all, recommended that you take a kid fishing or take someone who doesn't fish with you and introduce them to the sport. It's a great idea, and I do it whenever I can.

But there's a catch in this recommendation: Mark and Larry, like a lot of seasoned anglers, have big, expensive boats full of tackle boxes full of expensive tackle. They're fully stocked with expensive electronics that let the anglers find the fish they want to catch. They own dozens of quality rod and reel combos, and spend small fortunes on maintaining their hobby. So, what does it mean if Mark or Larry or any of thousands of other anglers take a novice on a fishing trip?

Well, the novice will probably catch lots of fish, certainly. These guys are great anglers. The problem is that fishing on that level is frighteningly expensive, and the novice who accompanies these anglers is very likely to believe that all that equipment is essential for any angler. Mark and Larry would tell you otherwise, if you pressed them, but they're in the fishing business, and the fishing business thrives on the sale of all those boats and outboard motors and fishing electronics and fishing tackle. The industry really doesn't want you to think you can just go fishing on the cheap. They want to sell you a pile of stuff, much of which you'll never need or use.

Then there are the fishing magazines, the fishing shows on television, along with the annual boat and fishing shows in the Twin Cities. All are designed to do one thing: Sell products. None are about just plain, simple fishing.

So, is all that stuff necessary to catch fish? Certainly not. So why subject novice anglers to the concept in the first place that fishing is an expensive sport? As any fisherman knows, but may have forgotten, fish are everywhere there is water in Minnesota. As any of the dozens of kids in my neighborhood know, you can catch a bunch of them with nothing more than an inexpensive rod and reel, a few hooks, a bobber, and some worms out of your yard.

We've forgotten the joys of simple fishing, it seems. I'm sure Mark and Larry haven't sat on a dock and dangled a worm under a red and white bobber for a long, long time. It's way more fun to jump in the boat, race across the lake, and cast $8 crankbaits at fish you spotted on your LCD display. It's certainly fun to use a $200 rod, a $200 reel, and expensive exotic line to battle the fish. You'll even catch bigger fish more often, too.

Me? Oh, I have a boat. It's an old 12' aluminum boat from the 1960's. It's on a rickety old trailer, and has a whopping 5 hp outboard almost as old as the boat. I even have a garage sale electric trolling motor and a 1980s LCD fish locator from another garage sale that works most of the time. It shows the bottom, but rarely any fish. I don't really turn it on much, except on lakes I don't know well. I have about a dozen personal fishing rods, mostly spinning rods, with reels, and almost all of them came from garage sales, or from the combo sale rack at Mills Fleet Farm at the end of the season. I have a big tackle box, full of tackle, too, most of it acquired, again, at garage sales, end of season sales, and from miscellaneous gift cards nice people give me at Christmas.

I think I may have about $600 total invested in my entire suite of fishing equipment, including the boat. I take a lot of non-anglers out fishing. We don't go to Mille Lacs. We go to places like Bald Eagle Lake, where my tiny boat is more at home. Sometimes, I even take non-anglers shore fishing. One thing's certain: My budding anglers aren't going to get the idea that fishing is a horribly expensive sport. They're also going to catch fish, since I'm a pretty good fisherman, in an old-fashioned sort of way.

While I have that old LCD fish locator, I don't really rely on it much. I use the old-school fish locating methods. I watch the shoreline and project the structure on the fish locator inside my head. I fish the same small lakes again and again, until I know where every tree stump, rock, and hole is on the lake. If the bass aren't biting, I fish for Northern Pike. If those aren't biting, I might try for some walleyes. If none of those are biting, I'm not at all averse to anchoring near the weedline and using ultralight tackle to catch some panfish. I catch fish on every fishing trip. I haven't been skunked in years, and neither have my guests.

On the metro lakes, you can even catch panfish from every fishing dock that exists...just about anytime of day or night, and anytime the lake isn't frozen. Sometimes, you'll have a nice surprise and pick up a medium-sized bass or pike, too. Then there's the river...the Mississippi River. From any accessible location along the river, you can pretty much guarantee that you'll catch something just about any day you care to go. A container of worms, some canned corn, maybe some commercial catfish bait, a sinker, a few hooks, and you're good to go. I like places like the public dock at Harriet Island Park in St. Paul, but there are hundreds of other spots.

So, that's how I introduce non-anglers to the joys of fishing. I don't overwhelm them with fancy equipment and expensive boats. I just take 'em fishing. Normally, I'll try to go out the day before and see which strategies are going to work, then I buy 'em a one-day licence and take 'em fishing. I make sure they catch fish. I make it easy for them. I always use spinning tackle for newcomers, even kids. It's easy, and they don't have to learn the delicate art of fishing with baitcasting tackle. I don't like spincast tackle much at all, because it's not all that versatile, and when things go wrong, they go way wrong. I can teach anyone over the age of 6 to cast with spinning tackle in just a few minutes.

While we're fishing, I teach them a couple of easy-to-tie knots. I identify all the fish we catch, and talk about their life cycles and what they eat. I fish, too, and usually catch a few different fish than my guest, and those get talked over, too. I sell the idea of catch-and-release, too, and always have my digital camera to grab photos of their first catches. I point out the loons and the ducks, and any other wildlife we encounter, too.

So, they catch a few fish in a non-threatening environment, using simple tackle. Usually, I start with worms and still-fishing. It's a sure thing, most of the time, and the worms are free. I just soak a bare patch on the lawn with the garden hose, and gather the worms up. I just plain refuse to pay anyone for worms.

But...here's the final step: Remember those garage sales I mentioned? I buy rod and reel combos all the time at those sales, along with miscellaneous tackle and small tackle boxes. I tune up the reels, respool them with fresh monofilament, then fill the small tackle boxes with the essentials, including some spinners and small crankbaits. Those are the rods, reels, and tackle my guests use. When the fishing day is over, they take the whole outfit home with them. My cost is almost always just a few dollars.

If I take them in the boat, I talk about how cheap it can be to get a small boat, complete with running outboard. I usually offer to have a look at any boat they are thinking of buying. If they aren't interest in getting a boat yet, I tell them about some favorite shore-fishing spots I've found in the Metro, including one that is less than five minutes from wherever they live.

Yes, it's very important to get people started fishing. I think it's even more important to keep them fishing. If they're scared of the complexity and expense of fishing, they'll probably enjoy their day on the water, but won't venture out on their own. If they have fun and learn how they can keep having fun without breaking the bank, they'll probably keep on fishing. 

Of course, once they're hooked, they'll probably start hanging out at the boat shows and making regular visits to Cabelas, Gander Mountain, Joes, and Mills Fleet Farm. They'll become good consumers of fishing goodies, so everyone will be happy.
8/14/06

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Spiny Water Fleas -- Coming to A Lake Near You?

They're here! They're here! Spiny Water Fleas, once limited to the Great Lakes, have shown up in Voyageurs National Park on a fisherman's monofilament. The DNR is getting ready to declare Rainy Lake an infested water, giving the folks up North something else to do when they pull their boats out.


Spiny Water Flea

Down here in the Metro area, we'll already used to draining our livewells and bilges, inspecting our trailers and pulling off all the Eurasian Milfoil that has accumulated. Don't do it, and you can get a big fine. 

Spiny water fleas are another matter, though. They're tiny, almost transparent, and darned hard to see. You can't just walk around your boat and trailer, looking for strings of green stuff.

I'm not entirely sure how much of a hazard the spiny water fleas are, really. They eat up plankton that would otherwise be gobbled up by small fry. Fish don't like to eat 'em....because they're spiny and give the fish a tummy ache. Other than that, I'm not sure what hazard they represent.

For fishermen, though, they represent a real hazard. If the DNR decides that spiny water fleas are a serious problem, watch for new regulations. If you fish in an infested water, you may just have to take your boat to a carwash and hose it down with a high pressure spray of hot water. They could also require that you not relaunch your boat in a non-infested water for a given number of days, to allow the pesky little buggers to shrivel up and die.

The bottom line is that regulations might slow the spread of this questionable pest, but, as with Eurasian Milfoil, the reality is that the spread is inevitable. There's always someone who doesn't check his boat carefully, or doesn't empty his live well completely, then goes to a clean lake and continues the distribution.

The question is: How much should Minnesota fishermen be inconvenienced to prevent the spread of the spiny water flea? Nobody even knows whether this tiny critter poses a real risk to our fisheries, so it seems to me that draconian regulations that have no real chance of success are out of place.

By the way, one of my favorite places to fish for largemouth bass is in Eurasian Milfoil beds. The bass seem to like hanging out there, and so do the small 'gills and other prey fish. In fact, I can't remember the last time I had my boat on a lake that wasn't "infested" with Milfoil. I still clean it all off my boat and trailer, but only because I don't want a fine.
8/1/06

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Fishing from A Car Trunk

I drive around the metro a lot. Mostly it's visiting garage sales and estate sales, looking for good junk to sell on eBay. Today it was raining, and the garage sales were a bummer. Then, I drove past Silver Lake on Hwy 120. I can never remember if it's in North Saint Paul or Oakdale, but you get to the boat launch from Joy Ave, off Hwy 120. Don't get me started on 120...I had to write an entire article on the bizarre street naming process along that road (Read).

I really wanted to see the boat launch ramp on Silver Lake, since I'm thinking about heading over there next week. I found a nice little ramp, if a bit shallow, and with maybe 6 parking spots for trailers. The ramp is in a little cove, and lining the shore on both sides are lily pads.

So, what the heck? "I might as well try some shore fishing while I'm here," I thought. I went back to my car, opened the trunk and got my car tackle out. There was a little sprinkle going on, and the temperature was about 70 degrees, so I reasoned that I might be able to scare up a little largemouth or something out of those lily pads.

So, I tied on a little topwater weedless crankbait and went to the water. I cast neatly alongside the edge of the lily pads and started a slow, twitching retrieve. Bang! First cast...I hooked a cute 5 lb. Northern. Since I had a wire leader on, I managed to land it on shore, then quickly released it back to fight again.

That was about enough for me, and the commotion would have disturbed the little cove for a while, so I quit and packed my stuff back up and went on my way. My total time? About 15 minutes, I think.

If you fish, you should always have a way to fish in the trunk of your car. In fact, you should have tackle in all your cars. Here in Minnesota, you're never more than a couple of miles of some water, and almost all of that water holds fish. Here's my suggestion for a little setup you can put in your car. It's cheap, but has all you need to catch Minnesota's variety of fish.

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Telescoping Glass or Carbon Fiber Spinning Rod. Most of the ones available are about 6' long extended and have a light to medium action. They aren't the ideal for casting, but they'll surprise you.

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Lightweight Spinning Reel, loaded with 6 lb. test monofilament. Nothing fancy needed here, frankly. You won't be putting lots of hours on it, and mono is just fine. Do make sure that it has a decent drag, though. Just keep the reel on the collapsed pole and stash it in a place where it won't get smashed.

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Tackle box. I used a two-sided plastic flat tackle box, about 9"x6"x2". It's just large enough to hold a decent assortment of tackle.

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Surgical Hemostat. You're going to need this for hook removal. I cut little gaps in the plastic dividers in my little tackle box so this would fit just under one lid. If you don't have it, you'll either hook your fingers or harm the fish you release.

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Tackle. You want a wide assortment, but not too many of any one thing. Choose items you know work for you in the local waters. Here's my basic list, but you can modify it to suit your own needs.
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Panfish Tackle. Small bobbers, plus small jigs, some feathered, and some with soft plastic grubs. I also have a small tube of split shot and some small gold hooks. You can usually find some small insects to use as bait.

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Inline Spinners. Again, stay small, so you can use them for crappies. Go for bucktail finishes...I like black and white and chartreuse. Put your very favorite pike spinner in there, too, but in a smaller size than you use from your boat.

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Spoons. Go weedless with these, or you'll spend your time picking Eurasian Milfoil from treble hooks, rather than fishing.. The Johnson Silver Minnow is still a great bet for working weeds. Be sure and sharpen the hook on these...they're usually pretty dull from the factory.

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Spinnerbaits. Start with the BeetleSpin, and include several different colored plastic grubs for it. This is a great bait for the weeds, and is usually pretty weedless. Add a couple of miniature spinnerbaits of the ordinary type, too. They're hard to find, but worthwhile.

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Crankbaits. Think small. Think shallow. I like the little crawdad patterns, that dive about 2'. Small stickbaits are also a good choice. Be sure to put a couple of surface baits in there, too. Try a Scumfrog, a popper of some kind, and stick a little slashbait in the box, too. Pick basic colors for these...don't choose extreme designs.

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Soft Plastics. Always good. Again, think small. You can drop these into holes in the shoreline weeds and do pretty well for yourself. You don't have to get fancy with rigging. I like a jig head, rigged weedless. But, remember, you've only got 6 lb. test line there and a light action rod, so keep these small, with super sharp hooks of thin wire construction. Again, a few colors and shapes are all you need.

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Other Tackle. Slip a couple of 6" braided wire leaders with snaps on both ends in there somewhere. If you're in pike country, you don't want to lose them. If I'm in pikey water, I always have the wire on for everything but panfishing under a bobber.  That's how I managed that 5 lb. Northern today. A few small sinkers, just in case, and you're set. Carry a pocket knife, too.

Get out there and have a little fun when you're near the water...whatever water. I've slipped out of business meetings at lunchtime, and caught fish in waters all over the USA. The outfit I've described above will fit right into any luggage on trips, too.
7/21/06

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Rain Dance, Anyone?

This recent dry spell is not doing our Minnesota rivers and lakes a lot of good. You can find some good info by Clicking Here. While some rain is forecast for this week and beyond, it's really time for it to get started. Never mind the scorched lawns I'm seeing everywhere. It's the rivers and lakes I'm worried about.

We've already had some fish kill going on due to blue-green algae, in lakes around the Metro, and the river levels are dropping. Oh, you don't see it so much on the pools of the Mississippi, but smaller waters are low, low, low.

So, if you know a rain dance, have some cloud seeding equipment lying around behind the shed, or have any other tricks up your sleeve, now'd be the time to get started. Rain is predicted for tomorrow, but who knows?
7/18/06

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Another Piranha in Minnesota?

According to this story in the Duluth News Tribune (read it), some kids in Worthington, MN, caught a nice piranha in Lake Okabena. No pole needed, William Somphanthabansouk, fished the toothy piscine predator out of a drainage ditch near the lake with his hands, then stashed it in his backpack and identified it with some nifty internet research A DNR official said that he thought it was a piranha, not the usual pacu that shows up in these stories. 

Folks, if you have a piranha in your aquarium tank and it starts eating up all your other fish, don't dump the thing in the local lake. It won't survive a Minnesota Winter, and some little kid could get a bite on the finger trying to fish it out of the water.

My suggestion is that you filet the sharp-toothed predator, roll the filets in cracker crumbs, then beaten egg, then cracker crumbs again. Fry quickly in light cooking oil and serve with tartar sauce. I hear that piranha tastes just like walleye.
7/12/06

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Red Lake Tribal Fiasco -- Boycott Upper Red Lake!

Jerry Mueller, a Princeton, MN resident, never expected what happened up at Upper Red Lake back at the end of May. He and his family were in his old boat, fishing for walleye, and were doing pretty well. They'd just been visited by COs from the MN DNR.

Then, things took a different turn. Officials from the Red Lake Indian Band showed up, cited the man for fishing on their side of Upper Red Lake. They followed up by confiscating his boat and trailer. Now he's facing charges and is supposed to appear at the reservation for a hearing. You can read a more complete story here.

Here's the deal, in my humble opinion. No disrespect to the Red Lake Indian Band intended, but this whole business bites. There are a bunch of factors involved in this whole nonsense, and I'm listing them below:

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There are no markers on the lake indicating the location of the boundary line for the reservation. That means there is no way for anyone fishing Upper Red Lake to know whether they're on the reservation side or not. Even GPS can't tell you that with enough precision.

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The walleyes are in that lake because of stocking by the MN DNR. Prior to the restocking program, the Red Lake Band had fished the darned lake out and ruined the fishery.

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Members of the Red Lake Indian Band may fish anywhere in Minnesota, while they claim exclusive rights to Lower Red Lake, and a large part of Upper Red Lake, claiming that non-members cannot fish those waters.

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Sadly, the Minnesota DNR, local authorities, and others have simply abandoned Mr. Mueller to his fate. They appear to be afraid of confronting this issue.

This business is simply unacceptable in the United States of America. If the Red Lake Indian Band has any sense at all, they will return the man's boat and trailer, and apologize for their actions in confiscating it. I seriously doubt that will happen.

My opinion is that no Minnesota anglers should fish Upper Red Lake at all, until all the waters of that lake are open to all Minnesota residents, just as all Minnesota waters are open to all Minnesota residents, including members of the Red Lake Indian Band.

Further, the MN DNR should immediately cease any further stocking efforts on both Red Lakes. All Minnesota fishing license holders pay for this stocking. If they cannot fish the waters being stocked and regulated by the MN DNR, then no funds should be spent to stock or manage such waters.

Next, the State of Minnesota should immediately file a suit with the Supreme Court of the United States of America, the judicial body charged with hearing all such suits. That suit should seek access by all MN residents to all waters within the borders of the state of Minnesota.

I expect neither of those options to happen. I do, however, expect the first to happen. Any Minnesota angler who fishes on Upper Red Lake is countenancing these illegal actions by the Red Lake Indian Band.  With all the other fine Northern lakes available to us, there's no need to fish Upper Red Lake. Just skip it.
7/10/06

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Updated News on This Story Here!


A Kid and A Fisherman

There's always a telescoping spinning rod and a small tackle box in my vehicle. A guy never knows when he's going to encounter a bit of water on his journeys around this state of umpty-thousand lakes. I've had many fine times stopping by some water and fishing for a short time.

So, yesterday, my wife and I attended a 4th of July weekend gathering at the home of friends. They're fortunate enough to have a home right on the shores of Prior Lake. After a period of visiting with the gathering of nice folks, the sight of all that water and docks extending out past the weed line just got to be too much. I figured I wouldn't be missed, since there were lots of guests, busily engaged in conversation and in consuming various beverages, so I hiked up to the car and grabbed my traveling tackle.

When I returned, several people commented that I couldn't expect to catch anything, what with all the boats in the cove there. Now, they had a point, for that holiday weekend had brought dozens of boats of all sizes into the cove, all populated with handsome young men and decorative young women--all wearing as little clothing as possible. There was much laughter, diving into the lake, and other youthful frivolity.

Still, I reasoned, fish can't stop eating just because there are people around, so I decided to have a try at it. There was an empty dock next to my friends' house. I asked about it, and my friend said that it was a public access dock, and allowed as how it would be OK for me to fish there, so off I went.

For the anglers reading this, I rigged up with a bobber and a little jig with a floppy plastic worm, putting the bobber about 3' up from the bait. It was clear that I'd be fishing for panfish, so that seemed the best move.

On the dock, I cast this rig out, first near the submergent weeds, and then out over somewhat deeper water. From the first cast, I caught fish. First, a nice hand-sized sunfish, then a scrappy, but small, crappie, and finally a nice little largemouth bass about 11-12" long. This was fun, and the guests at my friends' gathering began to consider me part of the entertainment, tossing wisecracks and jibes down at me.

Then, a boat pulled up to the dock where I was fishing. Not a problem for me, since I was fishing the water on the other side of the dock. "Did you know this is a private dock?" the boat's driver asked. "No," I responded. "I'll leave, if you like. I didn't mean to trespass." The driver said that he didn't really mind if I fished there. He just wanted me to know that it was a private dock. (He was wrong, but never mind).

So, I continued fishing, pulling something in at least every other cast. The next thing I know, a little girl, about 4 or 5 years old, is standing next to me. She's fascinated with the process and, of course, with the wriggling fish I kept catching and releasing. She was on the boat, apparently, and had gotten off on the dock, while Dad and Mom enjoyed the view and a beverage.

"What kind of fish is that?"  "It's a sunfish," I answered, holding it flat in my hand after I unhooked it, giving her a good look. "See the bright blue markings, and the green," I offered, then released the critter after she nodded, and cast once more. The next cast brought in a black crappie, about 8" long. "The hook is in it's cheek," the kid said. As I removed the hook, I explained that the fish didn't seem to be harmed by the hook, and it cooperated by being quite still as I pointed out the dark spots marking its side, and the paper-thin mouth. She just took it in.

Next, I caught a nice little largemouth, about 12" long, lipped it and held it up to remove the tiny little jig. "That's a big one," she said. "What is it?" I told her, and showed her where the fish's jaw extended to behind the eye, and explained that was why it was called a largemouth bass.

Next thing I know, the kid plops herself down next to me and keeps on watching. I keep catching, and she correctly identifies each fish as I bring it in. I ask if she wants to touch one, and she says, "Noooo....I hate fish!" So I hold one out and explain that it can't hurt her and that she could touch it gently. Of course, she does, and then watches the fish swim away after I release it.

I'm enjoying this little encounter, but I really need to get back to the gathering, so I tell the kid that I'm going to have to quit fishing for now, but that it was nice to meet her. She thanked me very nicely for showing her the fish.

I got up, my knees creaking a bit, as they do now that I'm beginning my seventh decade on this planet. As I was leaving, the little girl asked her father, "Can we go fishing sometime." He said, "Sure. Remember that Scooby-Do fishing pole we bought?" I showed him how I was rigged up, and suggested that real worms would do even better, then went back to the party.

I hope they get that pole out and Dad takes his little girl fishing. A bobber, a hook, and a worm will guarantee that she catches as many little sunnies, crappies, and  nice little bass off that dock as she can stand. The fishing's great in that cove, just about anytime, but the connection he'll make with his young daughter will be priceless.

If you have kids, take your kids fishing. Even if you don't fish regularly, take your kids fishing. Sit 'em down on a dock, put a worm on a hook, and let 'em catch a few. And, while you're doing that, you can have a real-life conversation with them...a conversation that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. You don't even need a fishing license to take a kid fishing. As long as you don't fish yourself, you can help them without a license. Who knows? Your kid may even turn you into a fisherman.
7/2/06

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End of June at Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle Lake is one of my favorite fishing lakes...any time of year. I haven't been out on it, though, this year, until yesterday, and didn't know quite what to expect. You'll find it just past White Bear Lake, off Hwy 61 and County Rd. J. The lake has a good concrete ramp, with courtesy docks, and offers a really good range of structure. Everything from Walleye to Muskies inhabit the lake, so there's plenty to fish for. 

Thursday, June 29, was a decent, sunny day, with a high projected to hit about 82 degrees. I launched at 8:30 A.M., and immediately hit some small, but frisky largemouths in the weeds just around the point from the launch ramp. I found some more in the sunken cattail island, and there was tons of bait swimming in the weeds. I even saw what looked to be about a 25 lb. snapping turtle over by the sunken island.

I spent the rest of the morning trolling the 10-14' edge on the southeast shore. I painted a bunch of fish on my locator, but couldn't entice them to bite. A couple of more boats were also trolling that area, but didn't have any better luck.

What was surprising to me was that I took the bass in very shallow water in both spots, casting a chartreuse spinnerbait into the weeds at the edge of the water and running it fast. All the hits were in less than 12" of water. 

If you try Bald Eagle, do it during the week, and in the morning. As I was retrieving my boat at Noon, the skiers and personal watercraft folks were launching. It's a busy, busy lake on the weekends and during weekday afternoons when the weather's warm.
6/30/06

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Top Ten Phrases Used by Used Boat Sellers

So, it's time to buy a boat. Maybe it's your first boat, and maybe its just another in the long line of boats that pass through your hands. Here's a guide to things you'll hear from sellers of used boat, along with an explanation of what they really mean:

1. "No, I've never seen it leak."
What the seller means is that he just bought this boat to sell it, and has never had it in the water.

2. "The outboard ran great the last time I used it."
The key words here are "the last time I used it." You can't use an outboard that doesn't run, so he stopped using it when it broke.

3. "Great looking carpet, huh?. I just installed it."
Yes, he did...to cover up the rotten plywood under it. Carpet's cheap. Rebuilding a boat floor isn't.

4. "Those little cracks? Nah...that's normal for these boats. Not a problem."
It's normal, all right. Normally, a short time after those cracks appear, the boat sinks.

5. "The transom? No rot in there. I put those braces on for that heavy engine."
Uh-huh. Yes indeed. He put those braces on to keep that heavy engine from pulling the rotten transom off the back of the boat.

6. "Yah, these trihulls from the late sixties were terrific. Don't know why they stopped making them."
Could have been the fact that they'll beat you to death when the water's rough and the folks in front need to enjoy being wet.

7. "I had the engine checked out at the marina. The technician said it was good to go."
He had it checked 5 years ago, and the technician told him it was time for it to go...to someone else.

8. "They don't make trailer rollers like that any more."
The ones he's pointing at need to be replaced, but you can't get them any more, so you'll have to spend a couple hundred dollars for new brackets and rollers.

9. "Water skiers? Heck, I pulled four skiers behind this boat last season. She'll get 'er done."
All four were under the age of 12 and weighed less than 100 lb. They "got done" all right. Their arms were completely worn out, and they never did get up on the skis. 

10. "I'm sure glad this boat's going to you. I know you'll take good care of her."
Yup. You'll have to. Before you get to use his old scow, you're going to have to spend another $1-2 Thousand getting it seaworthy.
6/19/06

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Metro Muskie Fishing

A guy doesn't have to leave the Metro to go after big Muskies, it seems. Several Metro lakes are prime Muskie habitat, thanks to the DNR's stocking programs. I've seen several caught in Bald Eagle Lake, White Bear Lake, Lake Owasso, and even at Phalen Lake.

To learn more, check out this Pioneer Press article about Josh Stevenson, who is probably the Twin Cities best Metro Lakes Muskie hunter. Click Here for the article.
6/18/06

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Google-Planned Fishing out of Your Area

Planning a trip out of state? Heading for a business conference, or accompanying someone somewhere you'd rather not go? Why not go fishing while you're there? That's what I did on a recent trip to Nashville, TN. My wife was attending a conference...a conference I had no interest in. We were going to be in Nashville for two nights and just one full day, so I decided to pack my travel rod and a small box of tackle. But where to fish? I'd never been to Nashville. I knew that the Cumberland River wove its way through the city, so I figured there could be some decent fishing there, but access to city waters can be tough.

Here's what I did, and it's adaptable to any strange waters anywhere in the USA:

First, I hunted down the Tennessee DNR site on the web. Not all states use the DNR acronym, so you can also search for "Fishing License TN (substitute the state of interest)" to find any state's fishing and hunting authority. These days, most states sell non-resident fishing licenses on-line, so I picked up a 24-hour license for the day I'd be there.

Second, I had to find a spot to fish.  I had only about a 4 hour window for fishing that day, and had to shore-fish. I was going to have a rental car. So, I needed a good spot on the river, not too far from my hotel. I checked around on fishing sites on the web, but nobody offered any shore-fishing sites anywhere near my hotel. It was time to bring in the big guns.

Google Maps is how you find fishing spots in unfamiliar areas. Type in the address of your starting point, like a hotel, and the map will appear. Click "Hybrid" at the top of the screen, and you'll switch to a satellite photo image, centered on your hotel, with street names and places like parks, etc. overlaid on the satellite image. Use the Zoom feature to zoom in so you can see some detail, then start scrolling around the map, looking for likely spots. You can follow a river or a lakeshore easily. I was looking for public access, so I focused on parks on the river. Once I found one, I centered the map on the park, then zoomed in closer to see what structure was there.

I ended up deciding on a city park on the river. By zooming in, I found that it had a boat launching ramp, rip-rap along part of the shoreline, and even a small stream entering the river. The spot looked ideal, and it was less than a 10-minute drive from the hotel. I did great. I caught several keeper largemouths and some really nice panfish from that spot.

Want to see where I fished? Click Here! Looks like a good spot, right? Try this yourself, either for your next trip or even in your own local area. It works great, and can turn even a dull day into a fine morning of fishing.
6/5/06

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Carp, Hey, Dig 'Em

After getting my new boat (see below), ready for use, I headed for my favorite test lake, Gervais Lake, in Little Canada. I needed to make sure it didn't leak and that both motors ran OK out on the water, not just in the barrel. Since I never take a boat on the water without the full complement of fishing gear, I figured I'd fish a little, all other things being OK.

The boat floated, and didn't leak, so I turned my attention to the real reason to put a boat on a lake...fishing. Bass are always on my mind in early June, and Northern Pike are a close second. Walleye? Never mind walleye. They're overrated as a game fish, in my experience. Tasty, but overrated.

Using my favorite chartreuse spinnerbait, I started fishing around the shoreline of Gervais, working the weeds heavily. Suddenly, about 20 feet from the boat, some large fish was rolling on the water. What the heck? I instantly cast over the ripples left by the rolling. Could be a big muskie or northern over there. Nothing.

I drifted further into the weeds, with my attention focused on where I was casting. Nothing was taking my spinnerbait, so I thought I'd change to a surface lure of some kind, so I reeled in and opened my tackle box and started picking through one of the drawers, looking for just the lure that would entice the lazy bass in the lake.

Absently, I looked over the side of the boat. About three fish, each at least 2 feet long, were swimming around and under the boat. What the heck? (I'm repetitive, if nothing else). Carp! Big carp. They were everywhere. That was what had been rolling on the water earlier. Carp!

Now, carp are commonly seen as "trash" or "rough" fish here in Minnesota. They're disdained by all anglers worthy of the name. Not so elsewhere. In England, they have a status amongst anglers reserved for the Muskellunge here in Minnesota. Huge tournaments are held in Jolly Old England to catch carp. An entire industry exists selling specialized tackle to angle for this lowly fish. There must be a reason.

Indeed, carp are difficult to catch, and fight harder than almost any other freshwater fish of equal size. Yet, they are scorned here in Minnesota, except for a small circle of anglers who understand the lure of the carp.

Well, I didn't have anything in my tackle box suitable for carp fishing. Kernels of corn, doughballs...nothing. Here in Minnesota, you can even fish for them with a bow and arrow, and I didn't have one of those in the boat, either.

Next trip to Gervais Lake, though, will be a different story. Since my practice is catch and release for all species, I can see no reason not to seek these carp. We'll see if my skills are up to carp fishing. Heck! The state record carp is only 55 lb. 5 oz. I see no reason I can't do better. Optimism...a fisherman's best friend.
6/5/06

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Resurrection of a Boat

I recently sold my boat to a young guy who will be using it for fishing and family recreation. It was too large for me, since I enjoy fishing the smaller lakes around the Metro, and many of them don't allow gasoline outboards. The new owner is a happy guy, and got a very good deal on a good old boat. Moreover, Ramsey County has its pound of property tax revenue flesh...and on time, thanks to the sale of that boat.

That left me boatless, a dire affliction here in the land of who-knows-how-many lakes. The fishing opener was history, the bass opener was coming up, and I was without a boat. Oh, the horror! Adding to the misery was the financial plight of the lone blogger.  There wasn't much in the family piggy bank to finance a boat purchase.

I needed a small aluminum boat and a trailer to haul it around. I already had the requisite small outboard motor and an electric trolling motor. So, the quest began with almost hourly checks of the Twin Cities version of Craig's List. The Boats section of that outstanding site is the place of choice to search for the used boat of your dreams. In my case, my budget of just $300 was a dream itself, for nothing in that bargain-basement price range showed up for several days. Oh, there were plenty of aluminum boats and trailers, but the going price was about $800 and went up from there. Despair was beginning to set in. I was scouring the fishing web sites, looking for places to fish from shore.

Then, on a Saturday morning, I saw it. A 12' aluminum boat, with trailer, advertised for exactly $300. It was about an hour's drive from my Saint Paul house, but there were even photos of the boat. Man, was it an ugly thing, with paint covering it in patches. Its owner claimed that "it floats, and doesn't leak."

The thing about Craig's List is that you must make contact at once. Such a bargain was going to be short-lived, since many people are searching for such a cheap, but seaworthy craft. A phone number was listed in the ad...a rare thing on Craig's List, for obvious reasons. I called. A guy answered and assured me that he had this boat still. "I'll take it! " I said, no doubt with eagerness palpable in my tone of voice. "When can I pick it up?" I had been carrying three crisp new $100 bills in my wallet for two weeks, and they were crying aloud to be spent.

"Where are you coming from?" the guy asked. When I told him St. Paul, he said, "Hey, I'm running some errands in St. Paul this afternoon. If you're sure you want it, I'll pull it over there and deliver it." Such things do not happen! They simply do not. "That'd be great," I said, in a state of disbelief. I gave him my address, along with directions to my East Side house, and he said he'd be there in a couple of hours. Another rule of Craig's list is that nobody delivers anything. I could not believe my good fortune.

True to his word, he showed up at about 4 P.M., dragging this incredibly ugly boat, tied haphazardly to a decent-looking trailer. Funds and pleasantries were exchanged, the boat was backed up my driveway, and the previous owner drove away, $300 richer and quite obviously relieved to be rid of an eyesore. 

Uffda! I inspected my purchase, stem to stern. Crudely painted registration numbers decorated the prow of my new boat, along with a registration sticker with a date of 1978. This boat had not been used, legally, at least, for 28 years! Hmm... It had once been painted brown, but roughly 75% of that paint was now gone, leaving ugly patches of brown paint everywhere. It's origins were revealed further by the patches of green lichen growing on whatever paint remained. Great globs of pine pitch added to the motley finish of the exterior. This was a cabin on the lake boat...long unused. Visions of lazy summer days fishing at a family cabin drifted through my mind, followed by too-busy lives, with a boat turned upside down under a pine tree for years.

The wooden transom panel was rotted away, but there was a decent pair of oars nestled under the wooden seats. The foam-filled flotation boxes under those seats had come loose and were just sitting there, held to the seat with one screw each. More of the dirt-brown paint was on the interior of this neglected craft. While the boat came with a trailer, it was obvious that the trailer had been used for some other boat, entirely. Still, the trailer was fairly new, with good tires and well-greased bearings. Even the lights worked. A box of trailer rollers, nuts and bolts, etc. was in the boat, all brand new. Things were looking up.

There was much to be done here, before this ancient craft was going to see another lake. I set to work (after a trip to the local Mills Fleet Farm, of course, the second home for all owners of old boats). Paint remover, plywood, many screws, and more nuts and bolts, were on the list. Of course, I knew I'd be returning to the store a few more times. You can never make just one trip to Mills Fleet Farm. That is an axiom of a man's life.

So, the boat got flipped upside down on a pair of garbage cans. Paint remover was slathered on, followed by scraping, followed by more paint remover and more scraping. Eventually almost all the paint was gone, exposing long hidden, bright aluminum. The paint on the inside of the boat would have to wait, since the Bass opener was less than a week away.

Next, the trailer. I installed the rollers to ease the boat on and off the trailer. A new winch and rope got bolted to the trailer. Wooden bunks, covered with carpet, to support the boat further, were another need, but the boat had to be on the trailer so they could be properly designed and installed.  I cranked the boat onto the trailer, then adjusted the rollers to hold it level.

Now it was woodworking time. I carefully cut and installed new transom boards, painting them green, since that was the color of some paint I found under my workbench in the garage. Green is good, it seems to me. The bunks were next. I had not found appropriate hardware in any of my trips to Mills Fleet Farm. They were out of what I needed. I assume there were others, like myself, resurrecting old boats in the Metro Area. I did not have time to wait, so I cobbled together some brackets from yet another trip to the store, carpeted a couple of 2 X 4s, and spent an anxious couple of hours moving and adjusting and re-adjusting these supports, until the boat sat proudly on the trailer, perfectly level and even. The several loadings and unloadings of the boat during this process gave me a nice, sharp lower back ache to remind me of my labors.

Things were looking pretty good, so I decided to rectify the ancient, outdated registration numbers and sticker. A nice lady at the Maplewood City Hall, was very helpful, when I explained the history of my new acquisition. "Since 1978, then?" she queried, skepticism redolent in her voice. "That's pretty far back. I'm not sure we have a record that far back. It will be harder if we don't have a record, you see." She began frantically tapping on the keyboard of a computer connected to the Minnesota DNR's boat registration site.  "Well, what do you think about that?" she continued, "Here's your boat, right here, and after all those years. It looks like it belonged to a fellow up in Lutsen, then. I don't suppose you have a bill of sale." I confessed that I did not. She clucked her tongue quietly, then took pity on me. "Well, the fellow is probably dead after all those years, anyhow, and you don't seem the type to steal an old boat," she offered. Then, with a few more clicks on the keyboard, a tongue of adhesive registration tags emerged from the printer. "That'll be $36, then, and you'll be all set." I paid, and left, amazed at the flexibility of such things, here in Minnesota. Such a thing could never happen in my old state of California. I didn't even find out the name of the man from Lutsen. But, never mind...wherever he might be, I'm sure he's pleased that his old boat will once again be fulfilling its role.

Well...the story's almost over. The boat's sitting on my back lawn, outboard ( fresh from a tune-up) and trolling motor firmly attached to the transom. A couple of rod holders (another trip to Mills Fleet Farm), a nice red gasoline tank and brand new deep cycle battery are in the boat. Two life jackets, one throwable PFD, an anchor in a Fleet Farm bucket and a pair of oars are in the boat. I'll load the rods and tackle boxes tomorrow. All in just a week of puttering.

It's Bass opener tomorrow. If you want me, you'll have to head up to Demontreville Lake over in Lake Elmo. I'll be the guy in the semi-shiny, $300 (well, about $450 by now...do not speak to my wife of this, if you don't mind), resurrected boat, happily casting for bass. I won't have my cell phone on, so don't bother calling.
5/26/06

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Must-See Fishing Links

Minnesota DNR

My Fishing Pals--Dedicated to Minnesota Fishing

Twin Cities Bait Shops

Metro Area Boat Ramps, Etc.

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