Improving muskie action
Paul Pollock of Tower submitted this photo of a 55-inch muskie he caught recently on Lake Vermilion.
I'm starting to get a few photos of big muskies from anglers, but it seems like the muskie fishing has been challenging this summer. Doug Ellis of Virginia Surplus, who puts on a muskie contest on Lake Vermilion each summer, confirmed that action has been slow until the past couple of days. Surface water temperature was just 68 degrees a couple of days ago, Ellis said. Muskies have been sluggish.
"It's been really slow," Ellis said. "And the mayfly hatch is still going on. That's incredibly late."
A big muskie contest on Vermilion turned up fewer fish than usual a couple of weekends ago. The largest Vermilion muskies Ellis has heard of so far this summer were a couple of 54-inchers, although a few 56-inchers have been caught in recent years. Paul Pollock of Tower caught a 55-incher on Lake Vermilion recently. Action action has been improving in the past few days, Ellis said.
His Muskie Challenge contest will be Aug. 9, and there are still openings in the guided kids' contest on Friday, Aug. 8. For information, call Ellis at (218) 741-0331.
Posted by: samcook on 7/28/2008 at 4:02 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Big walleyes on Island Lake
I was impressed with the number of larger walleyes caught during the Acme Tool Hawg Walleye Contest on Island Lake over the weekend. Greg Privette of Duluth won the event with a 7-13. Todd Haedrich of Saginaw took second with a 7-7 and Tony Fillman of Duluth third with another 7-7. Ann Aultman of Duluth was fourth with a 7-0 walleye. Jessica Haedrich, daughter of Todd and Belinda Haedrich, took fifth with a 5-9 walleye.
Those are some nice walleyes, just half an hour north of Duluth.
All proceeds from the event went to benefit local Boy Scouts.
Posted by: samcook on 7/28/2008 at 12:06 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Dogs in action
Clint Austin/News Tribune
Tasha, a yellow Lab owned by Rick Edington of Kettle River, retrieves a duck during a field trial at the Duluth Retriever Club in 2007.
If you want to see some good retrievers in action, swing by the Duluth Retriever Club today (Friday) or Saturday or Sunday. The club is holding its annual AKC Hunt Test. This isn't a competition, just a way for dog owners to test their dogs in simulated hunting conditions. Dogs can earn Junior Hunter, Senior Hunter or Master Hunter titles if they score well enough in retrieving situations.
You'll see a lot of young dogs trying to earn their Junior titles and more seasoned dogs looking for Senior and Master titles.
It's free to watch. But as at all hunt tests and field trials, it's best to leave your own dog at home or in its crate in the truck if you come out.
The Duluth Retriever Club is five miles north of Superior Street on Lester River Road.
Posted by: samcook on 7/25/2008 at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Fish story
I heard a good fish story this morning from an older gentleman I was visiting with. Many of us, while playing a fish, have had a hungry northern pike come up and slash at the fish or even grab onto it. This story had that common element, but with a twist.
The man and a friend were fishing on Boulder Lake north of Duluth when one of the men hooked a walleye. He was reeling it in when he saw a northern come up and take a swipe at the walleye. But he missed. The man kept reeling the small walleye in.
His friend had the net ready and was in the act of netting the walleye when the pike, about a 3 1/2-pounder, leaped completely out of the water to get the walleye. The pike missed the walleye again but landed in the net -- along with the hooked walleye.
The anglers had a good chuckle about that. They released the walleye, which they deemed to small to keep, and also the northern pike. But they kept the story.
Posted by: samcook on 7/25/2008 at 10:08 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Youth shooting event
The Minnesota Deer Hunters Association and the United Northern Sportsmen's Club have a good event for young hunters and would-be young hunters coming up Aug. 23. It's a Youth Activities Day aimed at exposing kids to the handling and shooting of firearms and bows as well as some wildlife information. It's free and will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 23 at the United Northern Sportsmen's Club grounds, about a mile north and east of the Island Lake Bridge on the north side of Island Lake.
The Minnesota Legislature this year passed a measure allowing youths age 10 and 11 to hunt big game before attending firearms safety classes. This Youth Actitivities Day would be a good way to familiarize a young person with shooting safety. It is not a firearms safety class, however.
Kids will be able to shoot .22-caliber rimfire rifles, archery, trap and a laser-shooting simulation. Some larger-caliber rifles (.223, .243 and .308) may also be available for shooting, said Kevin Stern with the United Northern Sportsmen's Club. Lunch and refreshments will be served.
Participants must pre-register by Aug. 16. To do so, call Stern at 729-7496, Joe Roberts at 722-2711 or Jason Brickley at 525-7660.
Posted by: samcook on 7/22/2008 at 9:35 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Yes, there were bugs
A friend of mine responded to my last post asking how the insect life was in Quetico. It was healthy.
We had a couple of warm, humid days on the trail, and the mosquitoes were pretty thick on the portages. None of us used headnets or bug jackets. We just sprayed on a bit of bug dope for the portages.
In camp, the mosquitoes weren't bad except at sunset.
I asked an outfitter friend in Ely after our trip what he tells his clients about bugs this summer. He said he warns them that the mosquitoes will be "pesky." He also tells them not to let the bugs ruin their trip. I think that's a good approach. Expect mosquitoes this summer. Know you'll have to deal with them at times. But don't get so focused on the bugs that you lose sight of all the other good things going on out there.
Posted by: samcook on 7/22/2008 at 9:17 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Quiet out there
Just back from four good days in Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park, north of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness out of Ely. Lovely, quiet country up there. Four of us poked up through Basswood Lake to Agnes, Trant, Kahshahpiwi, Shade and back to Basswood. For two days, we saw nobody else. It's almost hard to believe that you can go to such popular canoe country and have that kind of solitude.
It isn't that we don't like other people. We do. But sometimes, the soul needs vast quantities of wild country and the opportunity to imagine a time long since past. It rejuvenates a person's body, mind and spirit in a way that is difficult to articulate.
Part of the reason we saw so few folks, I suppose, is that the route we chose was a bit off the beaten path. The portages were challenging. But that made reaching camp, peeling down and going for a swim all the sweeter. And pitching stories back and forth around the evening fire with old friends was a true pleasure.
Posted by: samcook on 7/20/2008 at 8:32 PM | Comments (3) | Permalink
Gearing up
Four of us are heading for the canoe country soon. Old friends, long-time paddlers, we've done this for so long that it comes together almost without effort. A couple of phone calls. A couple of follow-up e-mails. Next thing you know, we'll be at someone's house at 6 in the morning, tossing the old Duluth packs into someone's rig.
We'll throw together a couple of tents, a couple of canoes, a kitchen tarp and a little fishing gear. A couple of the guys plan to buy food today. There is no lobbying over this meal or that. We know what it will be -- stir-fry or steak the first night, probably a burrito meal or some camp pizzas another night, some garlic mashed potatoes to go along with the fish we might or might not catch. We'll paddle hard. We'll be hungry every night. It won't matter much what's on our plates.
Three of the four are coffee drinkers, and the morning brew will be important. Having missed the coffee gene on my DNA, I don't take part, but I enjoy watching this morning ritual. They gather at the fire, where someone has already put the pot on. The flames are nursed just so, making sure that the pot roils nicely but doesn't boil over. Someone grabs a glove or a Leatherman tool, lifts the pot from the grate and pours out the life-giving nectar. Ahhh. Another day in canoe country. Some among us have been known to take a cup to the canoe as we leave camp for the day, taking a sip now and again as we paddle down the lake. It almost makes me wish I drank the stuff.
I spoke to a friend of mine who guides bass anglers in the Quetico-Superior every summer. The bass are still on the shorelines, he said, in a post-spawn mood. They haven't begun to move to the mid-lake reefs yet, he said. The walleyes are scattered, harder to find. We'll see what we can do. He gave me some ideas.
Meanwhile, we put our outfit together. I did this at a canoe outfitter in Ely (Canadian Border Outfitters on Moose Lake) for a summer more than 30 years ago, and I can still see the checklist on the counter in the packing room. Tents, kitchen fly, cook kit, ax, saw, grate, griddle...right on down the line. I've made my own checklist now and print it out before each trip, checking off items as they go onto the pile. It's a delicious ritual. I love those worn Duluth packs, my battered camp saw, the fire-seasoned cook pots. I'm breaking in a new kitchen tarp this season, a 10-foot-by-10-foot silicon nylon fly made by Cooke Custom Sewing. I almost hope it rains.
Posted by: samcook on 7/14/2008 at 7:38 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Moving on
It's subtle, but you can sense it. We're moving inexorably into mid-summer. The lush growth of early spring -- as rain-delayed as it was this year -- has begun to lose its edge. The spring flowers have bloomed and are settling in to make fruit for later in summer. Blueberries should be coming on in a couple of weeks. Lupine no longer paints the roadsides with its lavenders and creams and blues. I haven't seen my first fireweed in flower yet, but I wouldn't be surprised to see it this week.
And -- the surest sign of all -- the endless summer twilight has begun to shrink ever so slightly. Remnant daylight still remains until 10 p.m. or so each night, but the subtle change from peak daylight on June 21 has begun to become evident. I try to accept this gracefully, knowing it is part of the annual cycle, but I'll admit those endless days of late June are part of the appeal of high summer.
The birds are still singing in the woods. Ticks are still looking for free rides. Mosquitoes are still looking for meals at our expense. So, evidence of early summer remains in some forms.
Plenty of summer remains, of course. It's just a different kind of summer than we knew a few weeks ago.
Posted by: samcook on 7/14/2008 at 7:26 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink
It's hungry out there
A member of our camping group sips a drink with supper while trying to remain under the protection of her headnet. Six of us were camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness last week, where mosquitoes and blackflies were persistent.
Buggy tripSix of us spent five days in the canoe country north of Lutsen and Brule Lake last week. It was a good trip, but the bugs were a factor, as we had expected. Mosquitoes were abundant, and blackflies were present and persistent at times. Headnets were the rule for portages and much of the time in camp. And this was despite the fact that it was fairly breezy for three of our five days.
With all the rain we had received earlier this summer, we expected mosquitoes to be a problem. Mosquito eggs, as I understand it, can survive for several years, waiting for water to cover them so mosquitoes can hatch. I don't know how many years' worth are hatching this summer, but plenty.
Blackflies hatch from tiny sacs that cling to rocks in moving water. I know that blackflies pollinate blueberry bushes, so there's a purpose for them in the greater scheme of things. I just sometimes wonder if we need quite that many blackflies to get the job done.
Dealing with bugs is a challenge. Repellent works to a certain extent, especially on mosquitoes, though some people don't like putting those kinds of chemicals on their skin. Headnets hold the little vermin at bay, although it's warm inside the nets, and the world looks a little dingy through the mesh. Long pants and long-sleeved shirts help, too.
Trips in the canoe country are no doubt more difficult when bugs are present, but, for me at least, they don't ruin a trip. It's still well worth getting out there in all except the most extreme cases. Traveling by paddle and pack, listening to loons, watching the occasional eagle dive to pluck a fish from the water, lying in the tent listening to a rousing thunderstorm -- all of that makes canoe-country trips worthwhile even when the bugs are pesky.
Posted by: samcook on 7/05/2008 at 8:41 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
