How cold was it?

    A friend and his group of seven others just returned from their annual fishing-opener trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. They were to have been out for six days but called it off after five. Of the five days they were in the woods, they were able to fish for about one and a half days. It rained a cold rain for a couple of days. Snow accumulated overnight one night.

    "It was like deer hunting," my friend said. "It was so cold, all our minnows died. I've never had that happen in all my years."

    He was careful to mix the water from the oxygen-packed minnows with the colder lake water gradually when he first arrived. The minnows lasted for a couple of days. But finally, every last one of them died.

    The group caught plenty of walleyes to eat. One angler caught a 32-incher. The anglers tangled with some big northerns.

Posted by: samcook on 5/14/2008 at 9:58 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

The opener and beyond

  PHOTO BY CLINT AUSTIN / NEWS TRIBUNE

  Dave Schaeffer of Tower holds one of the five walleyes he caught Saturday on Lake Vermilion.

    The weather was challenging across Northeastern Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday, opening weekend of fishing in Minnesota. Temperatures were in the high 30s to mid-40s, with wind, some rain and some snow. The fishing seemed to be good in some places, not as good in others. The walleye fishing was exceptional on Lake Winnibigoshish and Cut Foot Sioux lakes near Deer River, according to Deapartment of Natural Resources conservation office Mike Fairbanks of Deer River. He reported both large numbers of walleyes and a lot of big fish being caught.

Fishing was slower on the St. Louis River, according to COs Matt Miller and Keith Olson. But several nice walleyes were seen. Marty Mattson of Saginaw won the Moldeez Bar/Marine General Supply Walleye Fishing Contest on Saturday with a 7.94-pound walleye. He edged out Phil Rust of Duluth, who had a 7.72-pound walleye, and Phil's brother Mike Rust of Duluth with a 6.97-pound walleye.

I fished Lake Vermilion on Saturday with fishing guides Dave Schaeffer of Tower and Denny Van de Linde of Cook, who have fished together on the opener for 33 years now. We caught a half-dozen walleyes in the morning, the largest a 22-incher. Most of them fell into Winnie's 17- to 26-inch protected slot limit, so they had to be immediately returned to the water.

Our fishing seemed to be about the same as those around us were having. Nobody was slaying them, but everyone seemed to be getting a few fish.

Most anglers were just thankful that the ice went out in time for the opener. Some ice still remained on Winnie, and the east end of Lake Vermilion had a lot of ice remaining. A few lakes remained ice-covered for the opener.

1.       

Posted by: samcook on 5/12/2008 at 2:28 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ready to roll

A young angler with a nice smallmouth bass from Basswood Lake near Ely last summer.

     It's the eve of Minnesota's 2008 fishing opener, and I'm eager to head north. I'll be fishing on Lake Vermilion with guides Dave Schaeffer and Denny Van de Linde. Lake Vermilion might still have ice on it. Schaeffer said this morning that there was "a lot of ice" remaining on the 39,000-acre lake that stretches from Tower to Cook, but he thought there was enough open water to get where he wants to go.

    This is a remarkable year, with a late ice-out and an early opener coinciding. The last time we had an opener with so much ice remaining on lakes was 1996, after the severe winter of 1995-1996.

    Photographer Clint Austin and I will spend Saturday morning fishing with Schaeffer and Van de Linde, then buzz back to Duluth to file our stories and photographs for Sunday's paper. It's a quick turn-around but one were accustomed to doing on the fishing opener and the deer opener.

    I love the opener. I like the hum of activity at lakes and public landings and out on the water. I like the promise of a new season. I've laid in a supply of new jigs. I've had new line strung on my reels. I bought a new rod and reel to replace the one my 18-year-old accidently let go of when he was making a cast last year on a trip in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. ("I didn't even hurry to grab it, because I thought it would float.")

    That part is all fresh and new. But it's the predictable elements of fishing that I look forward to. The gentle rocking of the boat on a little walleye chop. The subtle tunk of a walleye inhaling your jig. And that sweet resistance on the end of the line when you set your hook on a good fish. Whether you're 4 or 74, that part of fishing never gets old.

    And there's the bonus, on good days, of walleye fillets curling in the frying pan at the end of the day.

    If you're going out, good luck.

Posted by: samcook on 5/09/2008 at 1:26 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Ice and fishing

    OK. Here's the latest on ice-out across the Northland, as of a few phone calls made in the past hour. This is a big deal, of course, with Minnesota's fishing opener coming Saturday.

     Lake Winnibigoshish -- Ice went out Wednesday.

     Rainy Lake -- Still mostly ice-covered, according to Voyageurs National Park naturalist Mike Williams. For a Web cam shot, go to www.rainylakeonestop.com.

     Lake Vermilion -- Still ice-covered, according to fishing guide Dave Schaeffer.

     Kabetogama Lake -- Ice-free on west end, but big sheet of ice on eastern part of lake, said naturalist Mike Williams with Voyageurs National Park.

     Saganaga Lake, Gunflint Lake -- Still iced in. Fishing guide Mike Berg of Seagull Creek Fishing Camp offers little hope of ice-out before Saturday's fishing opener.

     Sea Gull Lake, near end of Gunflint Trail -- Still mostly ice-covered but starting to break up, according to Berg.

     Shagawa Lake, Ely -- Opened Wednesday, according to Drew Brockett of Piragis Northwoods Co.

     Boundary Wates Canoe Area Wilderness near Ely -- (From U.S. Forest Service reports on Wednesday, according to Brockett) East end of Basswood Lake frozen. Snowbank Lake frozen. Moose Lake open with some chunks of ice. Most smaller lakes open.

Posted by: samcook on 5/08/2008 at 10:32 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Bloodroot and more

Photo by Andrew Krueger / Duluth News Tribune

A bloodroot plant blooms in the Rice Lake Township yard of Andrew Krueger on May 4.

SPRING WILDFLOWERS COMING ON

     One of my colleagues here at the newspaper, Andrew Krueger, shared the photo above of a bloodroot blooming over the weekend. Bloodroot are among the first of the wildflowers to emerge in spring, poking up through last fall's leaf litter before any trees have begun to leaf out. The plant is named for the reddish juice that comes out of its underground stems when they're cut.

     Other wildflowers will be close on the heels of bloodroot. We can look for the flashy marsh marigolds in wetlands and ditches any day now. Trillium will soon be blooming along the Munger Trail between Duluth and Carlton. The lush leaves of  bluebead lily, which look like wild leeks, will be forging up through last fall's dead leaves soon, and their yellow blossoms will follow.

      Look for all of these when you're in the woods this time of year.

Posted by: samcook on 5/06/2008 at 8:17 AM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Look, no ice

Tim Wagner (left) of Hi-Banks Resort and Duane Brown of Duane's Outboard Repair Services guide a pontoon boat onto a trailer at Fish Lake Monday morning.

THE ICE IS OUT

     The ice went out on Fish and Island lakes north of Duluth on Saturday. Anglers and resort owners have been concerned whether the ice would go out on lakes before Minnesota's fishing opener on May 10.

      "I was worried sick," Wagner said.

      His resort has four cabins and a campground with 60 sites.

      Ice remained on many lakes farther north on Monday. Check the complete story in the Duluth News Tribune on Tuesday, or go to www.duluthnewstribune.com.

 Water levels were about normal, said Tim Wagner of Hi-Banks Resort on Fish Lake.

Posted by: samcook on 5/05/2008 at 3:33 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tischer Creek, in a hurry

Lots of water flows down a set of falls on Tischer Creek in Duluth on Sunday afternoon.

     Rivers in northern Minnesota are full of water with recent rains. Walking along Tischer Creek Sunday afternoon was a real treat. The creek was humming with runoff, cascading down the steep drops in the rocky canyon.
     We lived for a time in Colorado, which obviously has some wonderful natural resources. But, especially on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, where we lived, water was hard to come by. No lakes. A few reservoirs. Hardly any rain. Up in the mountains, streams tumbled down the mountains, and we got up there as often as we could. We were happy, when we moved back to Minnesota, in no small part because of the abundance of water -- lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands.
      Now, we almost take all this water for granted. But as I walked along Tischer Creek Sunday, I reminded myself that it's rare to have a metropolitan area with that kind of stream flowing through it. And Tischer is one of about 10 streams that course down the Duluth hillside.
      I'm sure all of them were looking good on Sunday.

Posted by: samcook on 5/04/2008 at 8:29 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Nice May day in Duluth

Leaving Fitger's Brewery Complex after lunch today, I had to stop to check out the lake. A Northeaster had some decent waves rolling in along the Lakewalk. I grabbed a few shots before heading back to work. While it was fun to watch the bigger waves breaking on this lump of rock, it was just as nice to watch the water as it ran off the top of the rock in all directions.

Posted by: samcook on 5/02/2008 at 1:28 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink

Its beak can hold more than its belly can...

That's right. Pelicans. A bunch of them are hanging out on Perch Lake along Minnesota Highway 23 between Gary-New Duluth and Fond du Lac. Check 'em out if you get a chance.

One of the coolest things about pelicans is watching them land on the water. They set their wings on final approach a long way out, gliding softly down. Their big feet hit first, like water skis, and the bird finally settles down.

Posted by: samcook on 5/02/2008 at 11:07 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Chance of rain, 100 percent

Raindrops hang from the buds of a birch tree on Friday morning.

     The rain on the roof sounded good early Friday morning. You could argue that we've had enough rain and snow and cool weather lately, but, as they say, it is what it is.

     I was talking to some older gentlemen down at the car-repair shop this morning, and, of course, the rain was a main topic. "We can use it," one of the men said. And I agreed. Lake Superior is still low. Rain will help bring water levels up, which makes it easier for vessels to carry larger loads. That's good. And the rain will help deteriorate the ice on lakes from here north, hastening ice-out, which we hope will occur in time for the Minnesota fishing opener on May 10.

     So, yes, we can use it.

     Later, I found myself thinking about they way we tend to regard rain purely in terms of whether us humans deem it valuable or not. We could, instead, just accept it without any judgment. It's just raining today. That's all. Maybe that's a little existential, but that's what I was thinking about when I took the photograph of the unfurling birch buds above. Those buds don't assign value to rain or sun or wind or snow. They just take in the rain as it comes. I like the objectivity of birch buds.

     But I wish my back yard wasn't quite so soggy in places.

Posted by: samcook on 5/02/2008 at 9:51 AM | Comments (0) | Permalink