Wow what a day we had today!
It all started with Jill and Nick gong on a 7-mile bike ride on the Paul Bunyan Trail (yes, the legend of Paul Bunyan and Babe, his pet blue ox, was born in Minnesota). Here are a few shots taken during the ride:
Other little known facts about Minnesota besides the Paul Bunyan story:
- The mighty Mississippi River has its headwaters in a small Minnesota lake called Lake Itasca
- Minnesota inventions include water skis, the snowbmobile, first in-line roller skates, masking and scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, Green Giant vegetables, rice cakes and the stapler
- Minnesota has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country
- Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined
Probably more information than you ever wanted to know about Minnesota, however, if you would like to know more fun facts about this great state, check out this link.
The Fish Story, Part I
While this day was like many of the others, full of fun and sun on Gull Lake, the breaking news of the day was about a fish: Jake Lillie catching his first Northern Pike! Here's how it goes (and I ain't lying):
Nick, Jake and I had decided to go after Northerns as we had already caught several walleyes, bass and panfish. What we didn't know was where to go on Gull Lake (it's pretty big) or what to use to catch them with. I did know one thing: we were going to use steel leaders this time as Nick and I had already each lost a northern a couple of days before due to nylon leaders that were easily sliced through by their sharp teeth.
Given that I had no idea where to go or what to use I did what any smart angler in Minnesota would do: I called Walleye Dan! He wasn't there but his wife answered the phone and was a delight to speak with. I told her about this blog and the fact that I had written about Walleye Dan and one of his guides, Toby, in an earlier post. She was so excited! She told me that she really wanted us to catch some Northerns and would have one of the guides, Tim Hanske, call me when he got back from his current guide trip. I was so pumped! These guys really know Gull Lake and I was confident we'd catch one if they advised us. It was 1130 am.
When Tim called we were on the lake trying to catch some Walleyes with the last of our minnows (my iPhone worked everywhere on the lake). He told me we needed to go over to the other side of the lake, find some weeds, and either troll or cast with spinnerbaits (ours were actually white, chartreuse and hot pink!) I thanked him for the information and the three of us jetted off. It was 1 pm.
When we arrived at the spot Tim had suggested we were full of anticipation. We decided to troll so we could cover more water in a shorter amount of time. Trolling requires one person to concentrate on keeping the boat moving at a slow and steady speed so the anglers on the boat can concentrate on fishing. This is especially the case when using a regular motor (ours was a 15 HP Mercury and not a specially designed trolling motor. Anyway, we started to troll and we weren't there very long and Nick caught a rock bass, which you can easily tell apart from other bass (smallmouth and largemouth bass) by their red eyes. Fortunately, Toby had told me not to touch them as the rock bass in Gull Lake (not sure about other lakes) have a fungus on them that can cause cellulitis in your hands if any of it gets into a cut on your hand (thanks, Toby!). I proceeded to remove it by only using my pliers (no hands). Nick proceeded to catch two more rock bass while poor Jake caught nothing. It was 3 pm.
We were just thinking about leaving and were making our last troll through the water when all of a sudden Jake says to me very calmly, "Dad, I think I have a fish." He started to reel in and all of a sudden his pole bent over and line started whizzing off of his reel! I killed the motor and told Jake to keep his rod tip up. The fish was running hard and Jake was keeping his rod up and reeling him in. Well that fish was strong but Jake was stronger, and very cool under pressure I might add. He kept reeling him in, letting the fish run when needed and pulling him closer when he could. Well, pretty soon we saw the fish by the side of the boat and I reached down and netted it for him. At this point we were all pretty excited and I proceeded to carefully knock it out using the anchor (wanted to avoid the teeth) as I had nothing else in the boat to hit it with. I also noted that I didn't have a metal stringer to put it on (need to put it on my list of "to gets") so we left it in the bottom of the boat. It was 4 pm.
Given that it was late in the day, we had been on the water a few hours already, and we had accomplished half our mission (Nick still needed to get one), we headed for our cabin at Gull Haven. It was an exciting ride home and when we got to "The Haven," Jake jumped out of the boat carrying his fish in the net, chest sticking way out, and answering all of the questions from the gathering crowd. After telling and retelling the story, we made it up to the fish shack where we could weigh and clean the fish. We measured it at 29 inches and a hair under 7 pounds. This was by far the largest fish Jake had ever caught and man was he pumped! After weighing and measuring it, I filleted the fish and ended up with two very nice fillets. It was 6:00 pm.
We ended the day with a fish fry with the four different types of fish we had caught: walleye, smallmouth bass, sunfish and the pike. I dipped them in egg whites and rolled them in bread crumbs seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper, and cooked them in very hot canola oil. They were DELICIOUS! We invited Kent (Gull Haven Operations Manager) over for supper, and we enjoyed a very nice meal together, retelling the fish story and basking in the glow of success on Gull Lake. It was 8:00 pm.
So I advise all of you out there to try and catch a Northern Pike -- it's great fun sprinkled with a bit of drama and storytelling, and they are DELICIOUS to eat with family and friends. And man is it cool to see your 8-year old son catch a fish like that...I am so proud of Jake!
Peace,
Brian
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