A fall fishing trip to Lac La Croix on the Minnesota Ontario border includes a fish hook stuck in someones thumb and the challenges to removing the hook as well as non-stop cold rainy weather, a tent that leaked badly, a boat that leaked, a bear in camp and exceptional walleye fishing.
My son has fished with me on the Minnesota fishing opener since he was in kindergarten. We always camped at a remote campsite on Lake Winnibigoshish from that first time until his senior year in high school. When he was in fifth grade he asked if he could bring his friend Brian along for the opener. Brian’s a good kid and it seemed like a great opportunity to introduce another kid to fishing and camping, so I said, “Sure.” Our routine has always been that we get up at 4:30 A.M., leave at 5:30, breakfast in Deer River about eight, baitshop and then on to Winny. Everything was going smoothly. We’d left on schedule and we were making good...
We were at our dear friends, Craig and Beanie’s cabin last summer. Spectacular weekend. Our friends had invited another couple that lived on the lake to join us for dinner. When they left about 11 p.m. my wife said, “It’s a beautiful night, let’s go out in the pontoon.” We all agreed that was a terrific idea. We grabbed a cooler loaded with assorted adult beverages and headed out on the lake. Now this lake is about 7 miles long. We motored out to a middle-of-the-lake location, cut the motor, fired up four cocktails (then four more, and then who knows how many more) and turned on the music. Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon to be exact. We had...
